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COMMISSION  ON  EAST  SIDE  APPROACH 
CITY  OF  PROVIDENCE,  RHODE  ISLAND 

REPORTS  8F  APRIL  10,  1911 


Reports  of 

"  ineer  John  R.  Freeman 

On 
Improved  Highways  and  Parkways,  Etc. 

For  the 
EAST  SIDE  OF  PROVIDENCE 

1912 


BERKELEY 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of 
CALIFORNIA 


CITY  OF  ,  PROVIDENCE,  RHODE  ISLAND 


REPORTS 


OF  THE 


Commission  on  East  Side  Approach 

Created  by  City  Council  Resolution  No.  49 
Approved  February  8th,  1910 

INCLUDING  THE  REPORTS  OF 

Engineer  John  R.  Freeman 

Relative  to   Improved   Highways  and   Parkways  for  the 

East  Side  of  Providence 


May  10,   1912 
THE  LOOSE  LEAF  MFG.  Co. 

CITY  PRINTERS 


DOCUMENTS  DEPARTMENT 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  Of  CALIFORNIA 


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APPOINTMENT    OF    COMMISSION 

In    Common    Council,    Feb.     8,    1910. 

RESOLVED,  That  a  commission  of  five  persons, 
consisting  of  Henry  Fletcher, *Benjamin  P.  Moul- 
ton,  Walter  F.  Slade,  John  R.  Freeman,  and  John 
H.  Stiness,  all  of  the  City  of  Providence,  is 
hereby  created  to  consider  and  report  to  the  City 
Council  a  plan  for  improved  transportation  facil- 
ities to  and  from  the  East  Side  of  the  City,  by 
means  of  an  easy  grade  highway,  viaduct  or  tun- 
nel, or  any  combination  of  any  of  the  same,  and 
any  new  or  improved  highway  or  highways  nec- 
essary or  desirable  in  connection  therewith  or  rel- 
ative thereto,  and  its  recommendations  as  to  how 
the  same  should  be  carried  out.  Said  commission 
is  anthorized  to  confer  with  and  give  hearings 
to  persons  interested,  at  the  City  Hall  or  else- 
where; to  invoke  the  aid  of  any  department  or 
officer  of  the  City  in  the  performance  of  its  duties 
hereunder;  to  employ,  when  in  its  opinion  needed, 
the  services  of  engineering  and  other  experts,  and 
generally  to  incur  any  other  expenses  incidental 
to  the  performance  of  its  duties  hereunder.  Such 
sums  of  money  as  may  be  required  for  said  pur- 
poses are  hereby  appropriated  therefor,  payable 
on  the  approval  of  the  Mayor  from  the  appropri- 
ation for  contingencies.  Said  commission  shall 
report  with  its  recommendations,  in  print  or  oth- 
erwise, to  either  branch  of  the  City  Council. 
The  members  of  said  commission  shall  receive  no 
compensation  for  their  services. 


The  official  relations  of  the  several  members  of  the  Commission  to  city  affairs  were  as  follows : 

*Henry  Fletcher,  Mayor  of  Providence;  Benj.  P.  Mculton,  President  of  Common  Council;  W;ilter  F. 
Slade,  Commissioner  of  Public  Works:  John  R.  Freeman,  a  taxpayer:  John  H.  S'tiness.  Formerly  Chief 
Justice  Supreme  Court  of  Rhode  Island,  Retired.  Albert  A.  Baker,  Esq.,  City  Solicitor ,  also  attended 
the  meetings  of  the  commission. 


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FUTURE      ROGER    WILLIAMS     STREET 
AS  SEEN   FROM  TOP  OF  POST  OFFICE. 

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REPORT    OF    COMMISSION. 


To  THE  HONORABLE  THE  CITY  COUNCIL, 
GENTLEMEN  : — • 

On  February  8th,  1910,  a  Commission  was  cre- 
ated "to  consider  and  report  to  the  City  Council 
a  plan  for  improved  transportation  facilities  to 
and  from  the  East  Side  of  the  City,  by  means  of 
an  easy  grade  highway,  viaduct  or  tunnel,  or  any 
combination  of  the  same,  and  any  new  or 
improved  highway  or  highways  necessary  or 
desirable  in  connection  therewith  or  relative 
thereto,  and  its  recommendations  as  to  how  the 
same  shall  be  carried  out." 

Pursuant  to  the  foregoing,  your  Commission 
begs  leave  to  report  that  it  has  considered  the 
problem  thus  presented  in  its  broadest  application 
to  the  needs  of  the  City  and  has  attempted  to 
solve  it  in  a  manner  that  will  best  serve  the  public 
a.',  a  whole. 

It  is  evident  that  the  growth  of  the  City 
demands  in  this  instance  a  highway  of  such  a 
character  as  to  accommodate  all  classes  of  travel, 
including  street  cars,  vehicles  of  all  other  kinds, 
and  pedestrians.  With  this  thought  in  mind  the 
Commission  entered  upon  its  task,  and  after  a 
free  discussion  and  interchange  of  ideas  as  to 
achievements  along  similar  lines  in  other  cities, 
and  the  peculiar  phases  of  our  own  problem,  Mr. 
John  R.  Freeman,  the  engineering  member  of  the 
Commission,  consented  to  work  out  a  plan  em- 
bodying the  general  features  outlined,  a  task 
which  he  has  prosecuted  to  its  completion  in  the 
form  of  the  plan  for  an  easy  grade  highway  of 
6.2%  grade,  approximately  100  to  90  feet  In  width 
and  open  to  sunlight,  and  for  a  new  easy  grade 
street  from  the  proposed  new  highway  at  or  near 
DeFoe  Place  to  Congdon  Street,  herewith  pre- 
sented for  your  consideration,  together  with  his 
clear  and  comprehensive  report  describing  the 
same. 

If  the  plans  so  submitted  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  situation  and  afford  an  adequate  solution 
of  a  problem  that  has  vexed  this  City  for  more 


than  a  generation,  decisive  steps  should  immedi- 
ately be  taken  by  the  City  to  build  at  its  own  cost 
and  expense  the  proposed  East  Side  approach 
highway,  the  ownership  of  which  for  all  time 
must  be  vested  in  the  City. 

Any  street  railway  company  to  which  may  be 
granted  trackage  rights  in  and  upon  the  proposed 
new  thoroughfare  should  enjoy  the  same  only 
under  an  agreement  to  reimburse  the  City  to  the 
extent  of  an  equitable  annual  fixed  charge. 

Your  Commission  has  considered  carefully  the 
question  of  expense  in  the  construction  of  such  an 
improvement  as  is  herewith  set  forth,  and  it  has 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  estimated  cost 
of  $1,350,000  is  not  prohibitive  nor  excessive, 
when  the  importance  of  the  work  is  regarded  in 
its  vital  relation  to  the  highest  present  and  most 
consistent  future  development  of  the  City.  It 
would  be  unwise,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Board,  to 
attempt  to  cheapen  this  broadly  progressive 
undertaking  by  restricting  its  scope  or  seeking  to 
reduce  the  scale  of  its  construction,  as  compara- 
tively little  would  be  saved  thereby. 

Your  Commission,  therefore,  desires  to  go  on 
record  as  unanimously  approving  the  plans  pre- 
pared under  the  direction  of  Mr.  John  R.  Free- 
man, as  submitted  with  his  report,  and  recom- 
mends that  the  City  Council  approve  the  same 
and  adopt  the  accompanying  resolution  directing 
the  City  Solicitor  to  apply  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly for  the  passage  of  an  enabling  act. 

Respectfully  submitted, 
HENRY  FLETCHER, 

Chairman. 

BENJAMIN  P.  MOULTON, 
WALTER  F.  SLADE, 
JOHN  R.  FREEMAN, 
JOHN  H.  STINESS. 

Commission  on  East  Side  Approach. 
PROVIDENCE,  April  loth,  1911. 


Draft  of  a  Resolution  proposed  by  the  City  Solicitor  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  into  etfect  tne  recommendations  ol  the  Commission. 


RESOLUTION 

Directing  the  City  Solicitor  to  apply  to  the  Ger- 
eral  Assembly  for  legislation  to  authorize  the  City 
to  provide  for  a  more  safe  and  easy  transit 
between  the  centre  and  East  Side  of  the  City. 

RESOLVED,  That  the  City  Solicitor  is  hereby 
directed  to  apply  to  the  General  Assembly  at  its 
present  session  for  the  passage  of  such  legislation 
as  will  authorize  the  city  of  Providence  to  lay  out 
and  construct  an  easy-grade  main  public  high- 
way in  said  city,  beginning  at  a  point  in  "Post 
Office  square,"  so-called,  and  extending  to  Brown 
street,  and  to  widen  said  Brown  street  from  Wa- 
terman street  to  Olive  street,  and  to  change  the 
grade  of  said  Brown  street  from  a  point  near  Wa- 
terman street  to  a  point  near  dishing  street,  and 
to  lay  out  and  construct  an  easy  grade  street  from 
said  main  public  highway,  at  and  near  DeFoe 
place  to  Congdon  street,  at  and  near  Meeting- 
street,  and  to  widen  and  change  the  grade  of 
Congdon  street  from  Meeting  street,  to  near 
Bowen  street,  all  substantially  in  accordance  with 
the  accompanying  plans  marked  ''Easy  Grade 
Street  to  and  from  East  Side  for  street  cars, 
vehicles  and  pedestrians,  proposed  by  John  R. 
Freeman,  C.  E.,  April,  I9ii,"and  comprising 
sheets  marked  A,  B,  C,  D,  and  E  with  all  neces- 
sary and  reasonable  powers  required  therefor  or 
incidental  thereto,  including  express  powers  to 
acquire  by  condemnation  lands  and  interests  and 
estates  in  lands ;  to  change  the  grades  of  existing 
public  highways,  or  parts  thereof,  included  in  said 
main  public  highway  to  conform  with  the  grade 
of  said  main  public  highway ;  to  make  changes 
and  adjustments  of  the  grades  of  existing  public 
highways  which  join,  cross  or  connect  with  said 
main  public  highway,  said  easy-grade  street  to 
Congdon  street  and  the  parts  of  said  Congdon 
street  and  Brown  street  in  which  the  grade  is 
changed,  in  the  part  or  parts  thereof  at  and  near 
the  points  of  connection,  crossing  or  junction;  to 
bridge  over,  across  and  along  certain  existing 
streets  or  ways  or  parts  thereof ;  to  connect  by 
stairways  said  main  public  highway  with  certain 
existing  streets  or  ways ;  to  relocate  so  far  as 
necessary  public  water  pipes  and  sewers ;  to  ac- 
quire by  condemnation  in  fee  lands  on  the  wester- 


ly side  of  Congdon  street  and  the  slope  thereof  ad- 
joining as  a  place  for  depositing  earth  excavation 
from  said  work,  with  power  thereafter  to  dedicate 
the  same  for  public  park  uses ;  and  relative  to  the 
prosecution  of  said  work  to  close  any  part  or 
parts  of  any  existing  public  highway  or  highways 
and  lay  rails  in  any  part  or  parts  of  any  existing 
public  highway  or  highways  and  operate  cars 
thereon  by  any  motive  power,  and  enter  upon  any 
adjacent  estate  for  the  purpose  of  constructing 
any  part  or  parts  of  said  work,  paying  any  dam- 
ages to  the  same,  and  for  such  temporary  use  or 
occupation  to  the  owner  or  owners  thereof;  to 
acquire  by  purchase  any  lands  authorized  to  be 
taken,  by  condemnation,  including  the  whole  of 
any  estate,  of  which  any  part  is  authorized  to  be 
taken,  and  where  any  part  of  any  estate  is  taken 
and  remainder  thereof  is  materially  damaged 
to  acquire  by  purchase  such  remainder;  and  to 
hold  and  improve  any  such  remainder  or  any 
part  of  any  estate  acquired  under  any  of  the 
aforegoing  powers,  not  needed  for  the  aforegoing 
purposes,  dedicate  the  same  to  any  public  use,  or 
sell,  lease  or  dispose  of  the  same  as  the  City 
Council  of  said  city  may  determine ;  and  to  hire 
the  necessary  money  to  defray  the  cost  of  all  the 
same  and  to  issue  its  bonds  therefor  for  such  time 
as  said  City  Council  shall  determine ;  and  to  hire 
the  necessary  money  to  defray  the  cost  of  all  the 
same  and  to  issue  its  bonds  therefor  for  such 
time  as  said  City  Council  shall  determine;  pro- 
vided, however,  that  before  any  such  draft  legis- 
lation shall  be  presented  to  the  General  Assembly 
it  shall  be  first  approved  by  the  commission  on 
improved  transportation  facilities  to  and  from  the 
East  Side  of  the  city. 

"And  said  commission  is  authorized  to  confer 
with  any  representatives  of  the  State  relative  to 
any  matters  involved,  in  which  the  State  has  an 
interest ;  and  is  further  authorized  to  confer  with 
any  representatives  of  any  street  railroad  com- 
pany relative  to  the  terms  upon  which  they  or  any 
of  them  may  be  permitted,  when  said  main  public 
highway  is  constructed,  to  lay  rails  in  and  use 
said  new  main  public  highway,  and  report  with 
its  recommendations  as  to  said  terms  to  the  City 
Council." 


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PRELIMINARY   REPORT   OF  ENGINEER  JOHN   R.    FREEMAN. 


13 


April  ist,  1911. 


HON.  HENRY  FLETCHER, 
MAYOR  OF  PROVIDENCE, 


CHAIRMAN  OF  COMMISSION  ON  EAST  SIDE 
APPROACH. 

REPORT   OF   SUB-COMMITTEE   ON 
ENGINEERING. 

SIR  :— 

The  desirability  of  an  easier  grade  up  the  East 
Side  Hill  has  been  before  the  people  of  Provi- 
dence since  the  days  of  Roger  Williams.  As 
Mark  Twain  said  about  the  weather,  "everybody 
complains  but  nothing  is  ever  done."  Yet  this 
case  is  far  from  hopeless  for  the  Providence 
papers  are  said  to  have  published  by  actual  count 
forty-eight  different  plans  by  either  one  of  which 
this  grade  could  be  overcome. 

The  fact  that  after  all  these  years  of  recurrent 
discussion  this  obstacle  to  growth  and  conven- 
ience remains,  simply  indicates  that  the  problem 
cannot  be  solved  without  strong  treatment  and 
liberal  expenditure  and  that  all  must  unite  on 
some  one  good  plan  and  put  it  through. 

THE  PROBLEM. 

The  problem  as  set  forth  in  Resolution  City 
Council  Feb.  8,  1910,  creating  this  Commission 
was  "To  consider  and  report  to  said  Council  a 
plan  for  improved  transportation  facilities  to  and 
from  the  East  Side  of  the  City,  by  means  of  an 
easy  grade  highway,  viaduct  or  tunnel  or  any 
combination  of  the  same  and  any  new  or 
improved  highway  or  highways  necessary  or 
desirable,  etc." 

THE  SOLUTION  PRESENTED. 

The  solution  offered  by  your  engineer  is  that  of 
a  street  100  feet  to  90  feet  in  width,  open  to  sun- 
light, on  a  grade  of  6.2  per  cent.,  which  is  easier 
than  that  over  which  some  of  the  heaviest  street 
car  traffic  in  Providence  has  been  carried  for 
many  years ;  much  easier  than  the  grade  of 
Francis  street  past  the  State  House  and  easier 
than  the  grade  of  Benevolent  street  in  front  of 
the  Hope  Club. 


The  proposed  street  begins  at  the  civic  center, 
near  the  Post  office  and  is  a  projection  of  Wash- 
ington street  on  nearly  a  straight  line.  It  follows 
the  straightest  practicable  course  up  the  hill  and 
ends  at  the  crossing  of  Brown  and  Angell  streets, 
opposite  the  middle  of  the  College  grounds. 

GRADES  AND  BRIDGES. 

After  crossing  over  Canal  street  by  a  concrete 
bridge  and  occupying  substantially  the  full  open- 
ing to  be  secured  by  the  removal  of  the  Arnold 
Block,  it  crosses  over  North  Main  street  also  by 
a  concrete  bridge  that  gives  more  head  room 
beneath  it  than  is  given  by  the  tunnel  bridge 
crossing  North  Main  street  immediately  to  the, 
north ;  it  then  trims  the  corner  of  Jefferd's  mar- 
ket building  slightly,  but  does  not  touch  the  build- 
ings of  the  School  of  Design  or  the  First  Baptist 
Meeting  House,  although  it  cuts  heavily  into  the 
the  yard  space  of  the  latter. 

The  church  and  the  school  can  be  left  as  they 
now  stand  or  either  can  be  raised  bodily  for  bet- 
ter architectural  effect  in  relation  to  the  new 
grade. 

Crossing  Benefit  street  at  its  present  level,  the 
new  grade  connects  conveniently  with  the  Water- 
man street  curve  for  those  who  desire  to  reach 
Prospect  street  and  proceeds  straight  up  the  hill 
in  a  deep  open  cut  which  attains  its  greatest  depth 
just  east  of  Prospect  street.  Prospect  street 
remains  the  same  as  now  and  is  to  be  carried  over 
the  new  street  on  a  broad  and  high  masonry  arch. 

This  archway  is  continued  only  for  a  total 
length  of  135  feet,  or  just  past  the  projecting 
wings  of  the  Corliss  and  Grosvenor  mansions, 
thereby  avoiding  any  disturbance  of  their  archi- 
tectural setting,  and  since  the  opening  under  the 
arch  is  as  high  above  the  roadway  as  the  peak  of 
the  roof  of  an  ordinary  two  and  a  half  story 
dwelling  .  it  admits  an  abundance  of  light  and  air. 

The  new  grade  starts  at  about  1 1  feet  above 
tide  and  at  Brown  street  has  risen  to  130  feet 
above  tide,  a  rise  of  nearly  119  feet  in  a  distance 
of  about  1920  feet,  which  is  at  a  gradient  of 
slightly  more  than  six  feet  rise  per  one  hundred 
feet  of  length. 


i4  ENGINEER'S  PRELIMINARY 

LOTS  AND  BUILDINGS  CUT  INTO. 

The  best  alinement  and  proper  width,  compel 
moving  the  old  Normal  School  building,  now  the 
Supreme  Court  House,  to  one  side  somewhat  as 
the  Armory  was  moved  when  the  railroad  built 
its  tunnel  two  or  three  years  ago. 

Proceeding  up  the  hill  the  required  gradient 
soon  cuts  so  deeply  as  to  require  the  City  pur- 
chasing the  seven  dwelling  houses  on  the  east  side 
of  Angell  street  west  of  DeFoe  Place  and  also 
several  lots  on  the  northerly  side  of  Angell  street 
enclosed  by  DeFoe  Place,  overlying  the  tunnel 
and  belonging  to  the  New  Haven  Railroad. 

Between  DeFoe  Place  and  Prospect  street  on 
the  easterly  side  the  three  houses  would  need  to 
be  moved  back  a  few  feet.  On  the  westerly  side 
the  Rosa  Grosvenor  house  would  not  be  dis- 
turbed. Northerly  from  Prospect  street,  the 
William  Grosvenor  house  and  the  Corliss  house 
would  also  remain  undisturbed  and  the  new  street 
would  here  pass  in  a  deep,  broad  archway,  so 
that  neither  of  these  three  large  and  beautiful 
houses  would  have  its  appearance  changed  as 
seen '  from  Prospect  street. 

Proceeding  easterly  to  Brown  street,  neither  of 
the  three  houses  on  the  easterly  side  of  Angell 
streeet  would  need  to  be  moved ;  each  can  be  pro- 
vided with  ornamental  steps  in  a  way  that  will  not 
be  unsightly. 

On  the  northerly  side  the  four  houses  in- 
cluding the  Baptist  parsonage  and  the  former 
Froebel  School  building  would  be  cut  into  so 
deeply  that  it  may  probably  be  best  to  acquire 
these  four  properties  outright. 

Easterly  from  Brown  street,  Angell  street  is 
not  to  be  widened  and  no  building  would  be 
moved. 

To  promote  rapid  transit  and  the  easy  passage 
of  large  suburban  cars  around  the  corner  by 
curves  of  ample  radius  and  without  cramping 
vehicular  traffic  between  the  tracks  and  the  curb, 
it  is  extremely  desirable  to  widen  to  seventy  feet 
that  short  piece  of  Brown  street  lying  between 
Waterman  and  Olive  streets. 

This  portion  of  Brown  street  would  need  to 
have  its  grade  cut  down  a  few  feet,  as  shown  on 
Plan  No.  17,  but  the  cut  is  not  deep  and  there  is 
no  necessity  for  changing  or  moving  the  build- 


REPORT — Continued. 

ings,  save  that  it  would  give  a  little  better  width 
to  that  portion  between  Angell  and  Waterman 
streets  if  two  of  the  wooden  buildings  on  the  east 
side  were  set  back  a  very  few  feet. 

After  all,  it  will  be  found  in  comparing  the  cost 
with  that  of  a  narrower  street  that  the  cost  of  an 
extra  ten  feet  adds  comparatively  littfe  where 
any  substantial  cut  has  to  be  made.  It  is  the  dis- 
turbance rather  than  the  square  feet  of  land  that 
commonly  forms  the  chief  element  in  the  payment 
for  damages  in  street  widening,  and  streets  of  the 
width  herein  proposed  have  proved  their  worth 
in  various  American  cities  of  less  population  and 
wealth  than  Providence. 

In  most  of  the  various  plans  considered  from 
time  to  time  and  for  many  years  past,  the  neces- 
sity of  removing  the  Arnold  Block  has  been  con- 
ceded. 

Your  engineer  recognizes  that  a  suggestion  to 
cut  so  wide  and  so  deep  as  herein  proposed  may 
shock  some  of  our  conservative  citizens  ;  but  after 
a  study  of  many  plans  and  a  long  review  of  the 
conditions  he  believes  it  better  to  face  some 
strong  criticism  than  to  be  a  party  to  the  impair- 
ing of  the  convenience  of  posterity  by  a  crooked 
street  that  is  too  narrow.  If  he  may  venture  a 
criticism  of  some  of  the  ingenious  plans  of  the 
past  it  will  be  toward  their  manifest  effort  to 
economize  by  means  of  dodging  around  all  prom- 
inent buildings  and  seeking  a  route  up  the  hill 
through  vacant  back  yards. 

THE  STREET  CAR  SERVICE. 

From  the  above  description  and  from  studying 
the  accompanying  plans,  it  will  be  seen  that  sub- 
stantially all  the  work  that  need  be  done  in  the 
immediate  future  is  comprised  in  the  building  of 
a  broad  thoroughfare  about  2,000  feet  long,  from 
Canal  street  to  Brown  .street,  and  in  readjusting 
the  grade  of  a  short  portion  each  of  Congdon 
street  and  Brown  street  and  of  Angell  street  east 
of  Brown  street,  to  meet  the  new  conditions. 

The  present  street  car  service  up  Brown  street 
will  be  conveniently  served  without  the  detour 
involved  in  carrying  the  new  grade  to  Thayer 
street  and  the  route  by  way  of  College  Hill  and 
Prospect  street,  with  its  expensive,  slow  and  con- 
gested, if  not  dangerous  counterweight  car  ser- 
vice, can  be  entirely  dispensed  with'. 


ENGINEER'S  PRELIMINARY  REPORT — Continued. 


The  access  to  Prospect  street,  via  Waterman 
street,  will  remain  as  at  present,  but  with  a  short 
cut  for  pedestrians  down  a  stairway  at  one  cor- 
ner of  the  arched  bridge  by  which  Prospect  street 
will  be  carried  over  the  new  street.  Two  broad, 
easy  stairways  are  provided  at  the  end  of  the 
bridge  over  North  Main  street. 

FOUNDATION  FOR  NEW  PARK. 

The  Congdon  street  grade  could  be  readjusted 
within  its  present  lines ;  but  your  engineer  rec- 
ommends a  broader  treatment  of  this  Congdon 
street  connection,  with  a  view  to  a  future  park 
development  on  the  hillside  near  Prospect  Ter- 
1  race,  and  as  laying  the  foundation  for  a  future 
boulevard  that  might  be  without  an  equal  in  the 
United  States,  in  its  outlook  over  the  City,  with 
our  beautiful  State  House  in  the  foreground  of 
the  middle  distance. 

The  large  amount  of  earth  and  rock  spoil  to  be 
removed  in  excavating  the  broad  new  thorough- 
fare must  be  disposed  of  somehow,  and  the 
cheapest,  and  to  his  mind  the  best  way  would  be 
the  immediate  purchase  by  the  City  of  land  for 
future  park  development  surrounding  Prospect 
Terrace  and  to  the  north  thereof,  upon  which  this 
earth  should  now  be  dumped  and  shaped  up  more 
or  less  roughly  as  the  foundation  for  a  future 
"Overlook  Park." 

TYPE  OF  CONSTRUCTION. 

Concrete,  plain  or  reinforced  with  steel,  has 
been  used  throughout ;  steel  viaducts,  bridges, 
trestles,  stairways  have  been  avoided  because 
more  noisy,  less  rigid  and  forever  requiring 
painting.  The  steel  reinforcement  has  been  made 
particularly  heavy  in  order  to  lessen  trembling  in 
the  structure  under  the  rapid  passage  of  heavy 
suburban  cars.  There  is  no  donbt  that  the 
weight  of  steel  shown  on  the  detailed  drawings 
could  be  lessened  with  a  corresponding  saving 
of  cost  and  still  conform  to  requirements  of 
saftey  and  common  practice. 

COST. 

Plans  almost  complete  enough  for  contract 
drawings  have  been  prepared  for  all  the  difficult 
or  important  parts  of  this  work. 


The  chief  reason  for  preparing  plans  so  much 
in  detail  was  that"  the  cost  might  be  accurately 
estimated  and  that  any  difficulties  of  construction 
might  be  surely  forseen  and  that  the  work,  if 
authorized,  may  proceed  rapidly. 

I  find  by  the  estimate  that  the  total  cost  of  real 
estate  taken,  real  estate  damaged  and  the  building 
of  all  structures  connected  with  the  street  and 
the  readjustment  of  grades  for  the  distance  from 
the  river  to  and  including  the  changes  at  Brown 
street,  will  be  in  round  numbers  $1,350,000,  as 
to  be  set  forth  in  a  table  subsequently  to  be  pre- 
pared, the  precise  amount  depending  upon  the 
liberality  with  which  real  estate  damages  are  esti- 
mated. 

It  is  of  interest  in  this  connection  to  note  that 
the  estimated  cost  of  a  tunnel  16  feet  high  and  26 
feet  wide,  in  the  clear,  accommodating  only  a 
double  line  of  street  cars  from  North  Main 
street  to  Thayer  street,  exclusive  of  the  cost  of 
acquiring  the  Arnold  Block  property  and  exclu- 
sive of  tracks,  electrical  work  and  ballast,  wa~ 
in  round  numbers  $750,000,  which  included 
$207,570  for  easements  and  lands  east  of  North 
Main  street,  and  with  a  further  sum  if  the  School 
of  Design  were  seriously  interfered  with. 

Mr.  E.  G.  Buckland  in  a  letter  to  the  Chairman 
of  the  Joint  Special  Committee,  dated  Sept.  4, 
1907,  stated : 

"The  expense  which  the  Rhode  Island  Com- 
pany must  incur  in  the  construction  of  the  pro- 
posed tunnel  will  amount  to  between  $750,000  and 
$1,250,000.  The  result  of  this  expenditure  will 
be  merely  to  provide  a  highway. upon  which  to 
lay  and  operate  tracks  of  the  Rhode  Island  Com- 
pany from  North  Main  street  to  Thayer  street." 

This  was  exclusive  of  the  cost  of  the  Arnold 
Block  property  which  is  assessed  at  $116,640. 
The  cost  of  acquiring  this  property  would  doubt- 
less be  somewhat  larger. 

It  thus  appears  that  by  adding  but  little  more 
than  50%  to  the  cost  of  a  tunnel  for  street  ears 
only,  a  street  can  be  secured  which  will  serve  the 
interests  of  the  street  railway  better  than  this 
proposed  tunnel,  and  at  the  same  time  give  the 
very  best  facilities  for  pedestrians  and  all  classes 
of  vehicles  for  all  future  time. 


i6 


ENGINEER'S  PRELIMINARY  REPORT — Continued. 


REIMBURSEMENT  OF  COST. 

Although  the  question  of  financing  this  project 
does  not  fall  particularly  upon  your  engineer,  he 
cannot  refrain  from  venturing  the  following  sug- 
gestions : 

In  1907  it  was  stated  that  the  cost  of  operating 
the  counterweight  system  on  College  Hill  was 
about  $12,000  per  year  above  the  cost  of  operat- 
ing on  a  highway  without  auxiliary  power.  It  is 
not  stated  if  this  included  interest,  depreciation 
or  renewals.  Probably  the  cost  is  materially 
greater  today ;  and  beyond  this  is  the  risk  as- 
sumed continually  of  a  bad  accident  and  the  fact 
that  its  capacity  is  outgrown,  traffic  impeded,  and 
the  natural  increase  in  receipts  thereby  lessened, 
while  the  public  is  inconvenienced. 

It  would  appear  that  trackage  rights  upon  this 
broad,  new,  easy-grade  street  should  repay  to 
the  City  the  interest  charge  upon  two-thirds  of 
the  cost  of  the  proposed  improvement. 

From  the  letter  above  quoted  i —  "The  Rhode 
Island  Company  has,  in  agreeing  to  construct  the 
tunnel,  voluntarily  assumed  a  fixed  charge  of  the 
interest  upon  the  sum  necessary  to  construct  the 
tunnel,  or,  calculated  at  5%,  between  $37,500  and 
$62,500." 

If  the  Street  Railway  Company  was  ready  two 
years  ago  to  pay  interest  upon  the  entire  cost  of 
a  tunnel  amounting  to  one  million  dollars,  more 
or  less,  as  per  Mr.  Buckland's  letter  quoted  above, 
why  not  ask  it  to  pay  the  same  amount  for  some- 
thing better  and  more  agreeable  to  its  passen- 
gers? 

TIME  FOR  CONSTRUCTION. 

If  the  present  Legislature  should  grant  the  nec- 
essary bond  issue  and  provide  for  moving  the 
Court  House  and  pass  any  acts  that  may  be  nec- 
essary for  acquiring  land  promptly  and  any  other 
needful  or  helpful  acts,  the  whole  could  possibly 
be  completed  within  a  year. 

Work  could  be  begun  on  some  parts  even 
before  possession  had  been  obtained  of  all  the 
real  estate  involved,  and  with  ample  dumping 
ground  secured  by  the  method  already  suggested, 
all  of  the  excavation,  masonry  and  steel  work 
could  proceed  very  rapidly.  The  bridges  or  via- 
ducts are  short  and  simple  structures,  the  entire 


number  of  cubic  yards  of  masonry  and  the 
amount  of  excavation  involved  are  not  large  as 
such  matters  go,  and  the  whole  question  of  time 
of  construction  is  chiefly  a  matter  of  authoriza- 
tion and  of  obtaining  occupancy  of  the  real  estate. 

LEGISLATIVE  WORK  REQUIRED. 

The  chief  legislative  problems  appear  to  be, 
first,  to  provide  for  the  moving  of  the  Supreme 
Court  House  (or  for  building  a  new  one)  ; 

Second,  to  provide  for  the  necessary  bond  issue 
to  cover  land  purchases  and  construction  ; 

Third,  any  legislation  that  may  be  required  for 
better  controlling  and  defining  an  adjustment 
with  the  Street  Railway  Company  for  trackage 
rights  over  the  new  street ; 

Fourth,  an  authorization  of  City  to  take  the 
whole  of  any  parcel  of  land  that  is  cut  into  by  the 
rights  of  way  required ;  with  freedom  to  sell  the 
the  portion  not  permanently  required ; 

Fifth,  provision  for  taking  certain  property 
along  Congdon  street  for  future  park  purposes, 
to  be  used  immediately  as  spoil  banks  for  the 
material  excavated ; 

Sixth,  any  further  acts  required  for  properly 
defining  or  controlling  the  relations  with 
property  heretofore  taken  by  the  New  Haven 
Railroad  in  connection  with  building  its  tunnel 
in  the  adjacent  ground. 

LAND  BETWEEN  STEEPLE  STREET  AND  ARNOLD 

BLOCK. 

It  has  often  been  recommended  that  the  City 
purchase  this  lot  in  order  to  open  a  broader  out- 
look from  the  civic  centre  and  to  relieve  the  traf- 
fic conditions  on  Steeple  street.  I  most  strongly 
urge  that  the  City  acquire  and  hold  this  property 
in  connection  with  its  purchase  of  land  for  the 
new  easy-grade  street.  The  present  buildings  can 
continue  occupied  as  now,  with  their  rentals  ac- 
cruing to  the  city,  until  the  traffic  conditions  over 
the  new  routes  have  been  established,  after  which 
it  will  probably  be  found  that  the  highest  use  for 
this  lot  will  be  in  preserving  it  as  the  site  for 
some  future  civic  building. 

MOTIVE  OF  THE  PRESENT  DESIGN. 
Numerous  other  possible  alignments  and  locat- 
ions have  been  considered  and  gradually  elimin- 


ENGINEER'S  PRELIMINARY  REPORT  —  Continued. 


17 


ated  in  favor  of  the  straightest  practicable  line 
from  the  civic  centre  to  the  most  convenient  and 
central  distributing  point  for  traffic  at  the  top  of 
the  hill. 

The  crossing  of  Benefit  street  at  grade  and  the 
preservation  of  the  Waterman  street  curve  for  an 
approach  to  Prospect  street  have  also  appeared 
paramount  considerations.  It  has  also  appeared 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  find  room  for  a 
street  ninety  to  a  hundred  feet  in  width,  in  view 
of  the  lack  of  radiating  streets  from  the  congested 
civic  centre,  toward  the  easterly  portion  of  the 
city  and  the  easterly  suburbs,  and  toward  Paw- 
tucket,  Boston,  Bristol  and  the  beautiful  east 
shore  of  the  bay. 

North  Main  street,  with  the  advent  of  auto 
trucks  and  the  development  of  navigation  will 
doubtless  become  more  and  more  a  main  thor- 
oughfare for  freighting  to  and  from  industrial 
works  located  to  the  north  and  it  has  appeared 
essential  that  this  street  be  crossed  overhead, 
in  order  to  lessen  the  obstruction  of  crossing 
currents  of  traffic. 

After  studies  of  traffic  conditions  had  been 
made  in  various  cities,  for  which  your  engineer 
had  the  good  fortune  to  find  much  opportunity 
during  the  past  year,  particularly  upon  certain 
of  the  wide  streets  of  Minneapolis,  Seattle,  San 
Francisco  and  Washington ;  and  after  repeated 
observations  on  some  of  the  broader  eastern  thor- 
oughfares, such  as  Columbus  avenue  and  Hunt- 
ington  avenue,  Boston,  and  Massachusetts  ave- 
nue, Cambridge,  the  plan  for  this  East  Side  street, 
first  sketched  out  at  70  feet,  was  increased  10 
feet  at  a  time  and  the  plans  redrawn  until  the 
widths  now  shown  were  attained. 

It  was  found  that  convenience  and  freedom 
from  accident,  freedom  from  detention,  conges- 
tion and  the  annoyance  of  slowing  down,  are  all 
greatly  influenced  by  a  few  feet  of  extra  width 
of  street  and  that  the  fundamental  requirement 
for  easy,  rapid  flow  of  traffic  is  a  width  between 


curbs  great  enough  so  that  with  a  double  line  of 
street  cars  the  space  on  both  sides  will  permit  two 
vehicles  to  pass  between  a  street  car  and  a  third 
vehicle  stopped  at  the  curb;  with  such  a  width 
the  fast  moving  automobile  or  taxicab  Is  not  held 
back  by  the  slower  grocers'  wagons  and  by 
means  of  the  ample  width  the  bicycler  and  foot 
passenger  desiring  to  cross  also  find  safer  places. 
It  is  important  that  this  main  thoroughfare  be 
straight  as  possible,  and  a  matter  for  regret  that 
this  new  street  could  not  be  made  perfectly 
straight.  However  beautiful  a  winding  street 
may  be  in  a  parkway,  a  straight  street  with  a  long 
look  ahead  is  best  for  prompt  transit  and  free- 
dom from  accident.  In  this  case  the  presence  of 
the  central  fire  station  and  the  railway  station 
upon  the  line  of  this  street  and  the  successive 
vistas  as  one  comes  down  the  hill,  from  the  Pros- 
pect street  arch,  of  the  Railroad  station,  of  Sir 
Christopher  Wren's*  beautiful  steeple,  the  School 
of  Design,  the  Federal  building,  and  the  ex- 
tremely heavy  street  car  traffic  of  the  future  all 
contribute  to  the  reasons  for  the  direct  course 
adopted. 

IN  CONCLUSION. 

In  the  course  of  these  studies,  about  thirty 
sheets  of  drawings  have  been  prepared  and 
numerous  photographs  taken  to  illustrate  traffic 
conditions  upon  broad  streets  in  other  cities. 
Among  these  are  plans  showing  the  relation  of 
the  present  improvement  to  other  matters  of 
City  planning  relating  particularly  to  the  future 
developments  on  the  East  Side  and  to  providing 
it  with  one  or  more  radial  streets  to  the  North- 
east and  to  the  Southwest  or  toward  Pawtucket 
and  Bristol  respectively;  also  certain  plans  for 
relieving  the  congestion  where  traffic  is  now 
throttled  at  the  narrow  throat  comprised  between 
Steeple  Street  and  the  Crawford  Street  bridge. 

With  the  permission  of  the  Committee,  I  will 
present  these  plans  with  a  description  in  print 
that  they  may  be  circulated  and  sent  out  and  more 


*As  a  matter  of  fact  this  spire  is  a  copy  of  an  engraved  design  published  long  prior  to  the  building-  of  the 
church  by  James  Gibbs.  an  eminent  Scotch-English  architect,  who  followed  Sir  Christopher  Wren 
James  Gibbs  was  the  designer  of  St.  Martin's  in  Fields.  London ;  and  submitted  three  designs  for  this  to  the 
wardens,  one  other  than  this  was  accepted ;  but  all  three  designs  were  published.  The  copy  of  Gibbs'  book 
in  the  library  of  the  late  Alfred  Stone,  architect,  of  Providence  is  believed  to  be  the  same  that  was  in 
possession  of  Joseph  Brown,  one  of  the  original  architects  of  the  First  Baptist  Meeting  house.  In  many 
other  features  besides  the  steeple  the  structure  closely  follows  the  beautiful  lines  of  Gibbs  design  and  bears 
a  striking  resemblance  to  St.  Martin's  in  Fields.  Mr.  Norman  M.  Isham,  architect,  of  Providence,  has 
made  a  careful  study  of  this  matter. 


18 


ENGINEER'S  PRELIMINARY  REPORT  —  Continued. 


conveniently  studied  by  interested  citizens  and 
that  they  may  not  so  readily  become  lost  or  for- 
gotten. These  plans  for  further  development  in 
the  future  appeared  necessary  in  order  to  make 
certain  that  the  one  new  street  now  proposed 
should  work  in  harmoniously  with  the  more  com- 
prehensive development  that  will  be  needed  in 
the  future. 

It  is  the  belief  of  your  engineer  that  Provi- 
dence presents  more  undeveloped  resources  than 
any  city  in  New  England.  With  its  climate, 
which  is  certainly  more  agreeable  than  that  of 
the  cities  of  the  north,  its  proximity  to  the  most 
beautiful  and  most  safe  sheet  of  water  for 
pleasure  boating  that  can  be  found  on  the  At- 
lantic coast,  with  its  great  university,  and  its 


School  of  Design,  it  should  become  second  to 
no  city  in  this  country  in  its  attractiveness  to 
homeseekers  and  as  a  home  for  high-grade 
artisans. 

With  some  such  effort  as  certain  of  our 
western  cities  have  shown  in  educating  its  own 
citizens  and  others  to  a  better  appreciation  of 
its  attractions  and  its  possibilities,  it  would  enter 
upon  a  new  era  of  almost  unlimited  growth  and 
prosperity. 

It  is  in  this  belief  that  the  undersigned  has 
worked  out  these  plans. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

(Signed)     JOHN  R.  FREEMAN, 

Engineer. 


IN  COMMON  COUNCIL, 

APRIL  10,  1911. 

VOTED,  That  the  report  of  the  Commissioners 
relative  to  an  East  Side  Approach,  including  a 
report  made  by  Engineer  John  R.  Freeman,  and 
the  Resolution  recommended  by  said  Commis- 
sioners, be  laid  on  the  table ;  that  said  reports  and 
resolutions  be  ordered  printed  and  distributed  to 
the  members  of  the  City  Council  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, and  that  the  said  Commissioners  be  directed 
to  hold  a  Public  Hearing  relative  to  the  proposed 
plan  for  an  East  Side  approach,  on  Thursday, 
April  13,  1911,  at  8  o'clock  p.  m.,  in  the*  Council 
Chamber;  and  that  the  Clerk  of  the  Common 
Council  be  directed  to  give  notice  of  said  hearing 
in  the  local  daily  papers  in  the  issues  of  April  n, 
12  and  13. 

W.  C.  PELKY,  Clerk. 


19 


20 


SOME  EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 


For  completeness  in  this  permanent  record,  it 
appears  necessary  to  explain  briefly  that  although 
the  plan  as  outlined  in  the  preceding  pages  and  in 
the  five  sheets  of  drawings  (A,  B,  C,  D,  E,)  had 
been  very  favorably  received  by  the  press  and 
by  many  citizens  when  first  published,  a  strong 
opposition  was  developed  at  the  public  hearings 
given  in  the  Council  Chamber  in  the  City  Hall 
on  the  evenings  of  April  I3th  and  i8th,  191 1, 
primarily  by  attorneys  and  others  representing 
property  owners  along  the  line  of  the  proposed 
new  street  between  Benefit  Street  and  Brown 
Street  and  by  representatives  of  the  society 
owning  the  First  Baptist  Meeting  House. 

Also  at  that  hearing  there  was  presented  a  new 
project  for  relieving  this  central  portion  of  the 
East  Side  from  the  disturbance  of  heavy  subur- 
ban cars  by  means  of,  first,  a  tunnel  (for  street 
cars  only)  to  be  built  substantially  on  the  same 
line  and  grade  as  had  been  proposed  four  years 
before ;  extending  from  present  grade  at  North 
Main  Street  easterly  along  the  lines  of  Fones 
Alley  to  Thayer  Street,  but  with  the  important 
new  feature  that  this  tunnel  was  ultimately  to 
be  extended  in  form  of  a  subway  for  street  cars 
only  along  Fones  Alley,  between  Waterman  and 
Angell  Streets  and  beneath  Medway  Street,  to 
the  vicinity  of  Red  Bridge. 


Following  this,  other  citizens  residing  on  the 
East  Side,  who  feared  that  the  quiet  residential 
character  of  this  region  would  be  imperilled  by 
the  providing  of  any  broad,  easy-grade  thorough- 
fare from  the  center  of  the  city  over  the  hill, 
joined  with  the  original  opponents  and  a  public 
meeting  was  held  at  which  a  so-called  "Citizens' 
Plan"  was  adopted,  which  "plan"  was  not  ac- 
companied by  any  drawings  but  was  understood 
to  provide  for  the  tunnel  previously  considered. 

A  petition  in  favor  of  this  "plan"  was  actively 
circulated  and  signed  by  many  East  Side  citizens 
in  the  thought  that  the  subway  would  follow  the 
tunnel  and  that  Waterman  and  Angell  Streets 
would  be  spared  the  fate  of  becoming  a  route 
for  heavy  suburban  cars  to  and  from  East  Provi- 
dence and  beyond.  All  of  this  agitation  resulted 
in  the  action  by  the  City  Council  presented  on  the 
next  page.  The  members  of  the  Commission 
refrained  from  taking  part  in  this  discussion, 
and  the  attitude  of  the  city  government  was,  to 
find  out  what  the  East  Side  wanted  and  let  them 
have  it. 

Upon  the  merits  of  the  respective  plans  the 
members  of  the  commission  continued  of  the 
opinion  already  expressed,  but  respectfully 
attended  to  the  further  requests  of  the  City 
Council. 


"CITIZENS'   PLAN" 

FOR  BETTER  APPROACHES  TO  THE  EAST  SIDE. 
Adopted   at   a    meeting   held  April  21st,   1911. 

I. 

The  extension  of  Waterman  Street  to  Canal  Street  through  a  new  street  or  square  and  the  removal 
of  street  cars  from  North  Main  Street  between  Market  Square  and  Steeple  Street  and  their  relocation  in 
Steeple  Street. 

II. 

The  building  under  College  Hill  of  a  tunnel  for  street  cars  only,  without  encroaching  on  -the  present 
surface  either  of  the  yard  of  the  First  Baptist  Meeting  House  or  of  the  site  of  the  old  Market  Building 
on  Market  Square  or  of  the  campus  of  Brown  University. 

III. 

The  removal  of  the  street  cars  from  College  street  to  the  new  tunnel  if  an  agreement  can  be  made 
with  the  Rhode  Island  Company  for  its  use  upon  fair  terms  including  such  regulation  of  suburban  traffic  as 
may  be  found  reasonable  pending  the  extension  of  the  tunnel  or  other  provisions  for  such  traffic. 

IV. 

If  fair  terms  cannot  be  agreed  upon  with  the  Rhode  Island  Company  then  the  grant  upon  fair  terms 
to  some  independent  company  of  the  right  to  use  the  tunnel  with  suitable  approaches  and  connections. 

V. 

The  immediate  undertaking  by  the  city  of  both  the  extension  of  Waterman  Street  and  the  building 
of  the  tunnel,  the  exact  location  of  the  latter  to  be  determined  with  reference  both  to  its  probable  use  by 
the  Rhode  Island  Company  and  its  possible  use  by  some  independent  company  now  or  hereafter. 

VI. 

The  formulation  by  the  city  of  plans  for  tunnel,  subway,  open  cut.  or  combination  of  them,  from  the 
easterly  terminus  of  the  College  Hill  tunnel  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Seekonk  River,  with  such  branch 
tunnels  and  rearrangement  of  traffic  as  the  study  of  such  plans  shall  show  to  be  advisable. 


RESOLUTION  AND  REPORT  UPON  A  TUNNEL  FOR  STREET 
CARS  ONLY  FROM  WATERMAN  STREET  TO  THAYER  STREET. 


21 


PROVIDENCE  CITY  COUNCIL. 
RESOLUTION  PASSED  JULY  6,  1911. 
RESOLVED,  That  the  commission  appointed  un- 
der resolution  No.  49,  series  of  1910,  to  consider 
and  report  to  the  City  Council  a  plan   for  im- 
proved transportation  facilities  to  and  from  the 
East  Side  of  the  city,  is  hereby  requested  to  have 
prepared,  by  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works, 
with  the  City  Engineer,  and  to  submit  to  the  City 
Council  at  the  earliest  possible  date  a  plan  with 


estimates  of  cost  for  a  tunnel  for  street  cars 
only,  from  the  easterly  side  of  North  Main  Street 
to  the  westerly  side  of  Thayer  Street,  together 
with  proper  highway  approaches  to  said  tunnel 
practically  as  outlined  in  the  recommendations 
adopted  at  a  meeting  of  citizens  held  April  21, 
1911,  and  based  substantially  on  a  plan  approved 
by  the  joint  special  committee  on  new  East  Side 
thoroughfare  and  presented  to  the  City  Council 
September  9,  1907. 


REPORT   ON   A  TUNNEL  FOR  STREET  CARS  ONLY. 


REPORT     OF     THE     COMMISSION     ON 
EAST  SIDE  APPROACH. 

To  THE  HONORABLE  THE  CITY  COUNCIL  OF  THE 
CITY  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

GENTLEMEN  :  The  Commission  appointed  by 
City  Council  Resolution  No.  49,  series  of  1910, 
approved  February  8,  1910,  "to  consider  and 
report  to  the  City  Council  a  plan  for  improved 
transportation  facilities  to  and  from  the  East 
Side  of  the  City,"  begs  leave  to  report : 

That,  in  accordance  with  resolutions  adopted 
by  the  Common  Council  on  July  6th  and  Septem- 
ber nth,  this  Commission  has  had  prepared  by 
the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  with  the 
City  Engineer,  "a  plan  with  estimates  of  cost  for 
a  tunnel  for  street  cars  only,  from  the  easterly 
side  of  North  Main  Street  to  the  westerly  side 


oi  'Ihayer  Street,  together  with  proper  highway 
approaches  to  said  tunnel,  practically  as  outlined 
by  the  recommendations  adopted  at  a  meeting 
of  citizens  held  April  21,  1911,  and  based  sub- 
stantially on  a  plan  approved  by  the  Joint  Special 
Committee  on  new  East  Side  Thoroughfare  and 
presented  to  the  City  Council  September  9,  1907." 

Pursuant  further  to  the  above  cited  resolutions, 
this  Commission  begs  leave  to  submit  to  the  City 
Council  for  its  consideration  the  said  plans  and 
engineer's  estimates,  as  presented  to  this  Com- 
mission by  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works 
and  the  City  Engineer,  the  same  being  appended 
to  this  report. 

Respectfully  presented  for  the  Commission, 
(Signed)     HENRY  FLETCHER, 

Chairman,  Commission  on  East 
Side  Approach. 


CITY  ENGINEER'S  PLAN  AND    ESTIMATE    FOR     TUNNEL. 


PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  September  28th,  1911. 

To  THE  COMMISSION  TO  CONSIDER  AND  REPORT 

A    PLAN    FOR    IMPROVED    TRANSPORTATION 

FACILITIES  To  AND  FROM  THE  EAST  SIDE 

OF  THE  CITY  : 

The  undersigned  herewith  submit  a  plan  with 
estimates  of  cost  for  a  Tunnel  for  Street  Cars 
Only,  from  the  easterly  side  of  North  Main 


Street  to  the  westerly  side  of  Thayer  Street, 
together  with  proper  highway  approaches  to  said 
tunnel  practically  as  outlined  in  the  recommen- 
dations adopted  at  a  meeting  of  citizens,  held 
April  2ist,  1911,  and  based  substantially  on  a 
plan  approved  by  the  Joint  Special  Committee 
on  New  East  Side  Thoroughfare  and  presented 
to  the  City  Council,  September  9th,  1907. 


22 


A  TUNNEL  FOR  STREET  CARS  ONLY. 


The  plan  and  accompanying  profile  represent 
the  location,  grades  and  dimensions  of  the  pro- 
posed tunnel  and  its  relation  to  adjacent  streets 
and  private  property ;  also  the  location  and 
amount  of  land  required  for  its  construction  and 
use  and  the  position  of  buildings  to  be  affected 
or  removed. 

Beginning  at  the  easterly  line  of  North  Main 
street,  the  westerly  approach  crosses  private 
property,  a  strip  bounding  on  the  south  line  of 
Waterman  street  and  forty  feet  wide  being  taken, 
the  space  thus  taken  being  now  occupied  by  a 
two-story  business  building.  By  depressing  the 
grade  of  the  tunnel  so  as  to  pass  beneath  the 
basement  floor  of  the  School  of  Design  building, 
the  westerly  entrance  of  the  tunnel  may  be  placed 
upon  the  property  taken  as  above,  and  from  this 
point  to  the  easterly  portal  near  Thayer  street 
the  work  of  building  the  tunnel  may  be  carried 
to  completion  without  removing  or  damaging  the 
School  of  Design  or  any  other  building  of  im- 
portance. 

At  the  easterly  approach,  connection  with  the 
present  surface  lines  is  shown.  To  provide  room 
for  the  approach  itself  private  land  will  be  re- 
quired, as  the  width  of  Fones  Alley,  a  platted 
street  conveyed  to  the  city  in  1833,  for  highway 
purposes,  is  not  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  The 
plan  proposes,  therefore,  to  take  land  of  an  addi- 
tional width  from  a  point  about  350  feet  west  of 
Thayer  street  to  Thayer  street,  reserving  the  cen- 
tral portion  for  the  tunnel  approach,  the  side 
strips  to  be  left  for  highway  travel.  The  corners 
of  Thayer  street  and  Fones  Alley  are  rounded 
to  give  free  access  to  the  Alley. 

In  the  connection  with  the  surface  at  Thayer 
street  the  plan  shows  the  tunnel  tracks  separating 
to  the  right  and  left  for  cars  moving  east  and 
west  in  Waterman  and  Angell  streets  respec- 
tively. 

In  estimating  the  cost  of  the  tunnel,  the  land 
is  first  to  be  considered.  It  may  be  divided  into 
three  classes:  First,  that  which  is  included  in 
the  street  crossed  or  traversed  by  the  lines  of 
the  tunnel  structure  and  its  approaches ;  second, 
the  land  belonging  to  private  parties,  the  surface 
of  which  is  required  for  the  approaches  to  the 


tunnelways,  and  third,  that  private  land,  beneath 
which  the  tunnel  is  to  be  constructed  and  operated 
without  interfering  with  the  continued  occupa- 
tion by  the  owners  of  the  surface  for  ordinary 
uses  and  purposes.  Tables  have  been  prepared 
giving  the  areas  of  the  land  required. 

Summarized,  according  to  the  plan,  the  area 
of  land  required  for  surface  use  in  addition  to 
that  now  included  in  Fones  Alley  is  approxi- 
mately 28,649  square  feet. 

The  amount  of  land,  in  addition  to  the  fore- 
going, through  which  a  subterranean  easement 
is  required,  is  approximately  34,260  square  feet. 

Without  extended  surveys  and  examinations, 
including  systematic  borings  along  the  proposed 
lines,  the  relative  proportions  of  rock  and  earth 
to  be  encountered  and  the  comparative  character 
and  stability  of  each  cannot  be  precisely  deter- 
mined. 

CONSTRUCTION  COST  OF  TUNNEL. 
Main  Tunnel  arched  section 

( i  ,600    f t. ) $320,000  oo 

Main  Tunnel  rectangular  section 

(200   ft.) 50,000  oo 

Approaches   (368  ft.) 24,320  oo 

Engineering  and  inspection 39,432  oo 

General   contingencies 20,000  oo 

Legal  and  commission  expenses....      15,000  oo 

Accident  and  liability 5,000  oo 

Interest  during  construction..- 15,00000 


$488,752  oo 
LAND  DAMAGES. 

Land  required  for  surface  uses, 
damages  to  buildings  and  land  re- 
quired for  underground  use  (ease- 
ments) not  to  exceed $100,000  oo 

ARNOLD  BLOCK. 
(Waterman  Street  Extension.) 
Estimated  expense  including  cost  of 
acquiring  above   property   and   of 
constructing   highway   not    to   ex- 
ceed  $200,000  oo 

Respectfully  submitted, 
(Signed)     WALTER  F.  SLADE, 

Commissioner  of  Public  Works. 
(Signed)     OTIS  F.  CLAPP, 

City  Engineer. 


FINAL   REPORT   OF   ENGINEER  JOHN  R.  FREEMAN. 


23 


PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  February  8th,  1912. 

REPORT    OF    SUB-COMMITTEE    ON 

ENGINEERING. 
HENRY  FLETCHER,  MAYOR, 

CHAIRMAN,     COMMITTEE    ON     EAST     SIDE 

APPROACH. 
SIR: 

SCOPE  OF  STUDY. 

I  present  herewith  my  completed  report  on  an 
Easy-Grade  Street  to  the  East  Side,  together 
with  the  comprehensive  studies  for  better  transit 
facilities  through  that  portion  of  the  city  lying 
easterly  from  the  Providence  River  to  the  popu- 
lous and  rapidly  growing  regions  to  the  North, 
East  and  South.  This  is  mainly  an  elaboration 
of  the  report  which  I  presented  through  you  to 
the  Committee  and  to  the  City  Council  under  date 
of  April  loth,  1911,  and  of  which  the  text  was 
then  printed  without  the  drawings  necessary 
for  a  clear  understanding  of  the  important 
features  that  controlled  the  design. 

You  will  recall  that  when  more  than  a  year 
and  a  half  ago  I  reluctantly  accepted  work  with 
your  Committee  I  explained  that  a  proper  study 
of  the  problem  of  the  "East  Side  Approach" 
would  take  much  time,  that  it  involved  consid- 
eration of  much  more  than  the  cheapest  method 
of  devising  means  by  which  street  cars  could 
pass  easily  up  and  down  College  Hill ;  that  the 
future  development  of  Providence  for  twenty- 
five,  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  hence  must  be  con- 
sidered and  an  effort  made  to  overcome  the 
natural  obstacle  of  the  hill  in  a  way  that  would 
fall  in  line  with  future  improvements  and  add  to 
the  attractiveness  of  Providence  as  a  city  of 
homes. 

During  the  year  that  intervened  before  the 
presentation  of  my  first  report  on  April  loth, 
1911,  various  journeys  undertaken  in  connection 
with  other  engineering  work  afforded  me  an 
opportunity  for  studying  the  problems  of  street 
travel  in  Minneapolis,  Seattle,  San  Francisco, 
Pittsburgh  and  in  several  important  centers  in 
England  and  on  the  Continent,  and  during  these 
journeys  such  points  were  noted  as  appeared  to 


have  a  bearing  on  future  conditions  in  the  sec- 
ond largest  city  in  New  England  and  one  which 
is  said  to  be  the  foremost  in  per  capita  wealth 
in  the  United  States. 

PRESENTATION  OF  ACCESSORY  PLANS  DEFERRED. 

Nearly  all  of  the  plans  presented  with  the 
present  report  had  been  outlined  and  the  draw- 
ings largely  completed  prior  to  the  presentation 
of  my  report  to  the  Committee  on  April  loth, 
1911,  and  these  drawings  had  been  shown  to 
various  representative  citizens  in  order  to  obtain 
the  benefit  of  their  criticisms  and  suggestions ; 
but  following  your  advice  and  that  of  others,  it 
was  deemed  best  to  simplify  the  issue  and  to  pre- 
sent then  only  those  plans  covering  the  work 
which  public  necessity  immediately  required, 
namely  better  facilities  for  street  cars  and  vehicu- 
lar traffic  from  a  point  near  the  Post  Office  east- 
erly up  the  hill  to  the  vicinity  of  Brown  Street, 
where  crossed  by  Angell  and  Waterman  Streets. 

Therefore,  only  plans  "A,  B,  C,  D  and  E" 
(Sheets  i,  2,  3,  4  and  17),  which  are  reproduced 
on  pages  8  to  12,  together  with  the  artist's  per- 
spective drawing  of  the  view  up  the  hill,  were 
presented  at  the  public  hearings  and  the  addi- 
tional plans  that  had  been  made  for  the  purpose 
of  so  planning  this  first  step  that  it  would  fall 
in  with  subsequent  steps  that  might  be  taken 
five,  ten,  twenty-five  or  more  years  hence,  as 
sentiment  or  growth  should  demand,  were  not 
made  a  part  of  the  report  of  April  loth,  or  ex- 
hibited at  the  meeting  of  the  City  Council  on 
April  I3th,  lest  they  give  a  mistaken  impression 
that  something  visionary,  or  a  project  far  too 
grand  for  the  financial  ability  of  the  City,  or  too 
elaborate  to  fall  in  with  the  present  point  of  view 
of  many  of  its  citizens,  was  involved  in  the  un- 
dertaking recommended. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  proposed  "Roger  Wil- 
liams Street,"  which  is  after  all  largely  a  widen- 
ing and  re-grading  of  existing  streets  between 
Post  Office  Square  and  Brown  Street,  could  for- 
ever stop  near  Brown  Street  and  stand  complete 
in  itself  and  accomplish  all  that  has  been  sought 
to  obtain  in  the  various  plans  before  the  City 
Council  during  the  past  five  years  or  in  the  fifty 


25 


i 
5 


26 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


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28 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


or  more  plans  that  have  from  time  to  time  been 
proposed  by  various  citizens  and  described  in 
the  Providence  newspapers. 

But  the  precise  location  of  "Roger  Williams 
Street"  was  so  selected  and  its  details  so  arranged 
that  if  an  enlightened  public  opinion  shall  ten  or 
twenty  or  fifty  years  hence  demand,  first  the  crea- 
tion of  the  complete  "Overlook  Park"  before  it  is 
forever  too  late,  together  with  the  providing  of  a 
new  broad  avenue  and  street  car  line  toward 
Pawtucket  and  the  large  undeveloped  northern 
end  of  the  City,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rocham- 
beau  Avenue,  on  which  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to 
ride,  particularly  so  in  comparison  with  the  pres- 
ent course  up  North  Main  Street  and  Constitu- 
tion Hill,  the  location  and  grade  of  "Roger 
Williams  Street"  are  all  adjusted  to  meet  these 
future  extensions. 

Or  if  sometime  under  the  stimulus  of  more 
factories  in  the  Phillipsdale  region  and  an  indus- 
trial development  spreading  southerly  over  the 
vast  undeveloped  area  of  the  plains  bordering 
the  Seekonk,  which  offer  the  best  vacant  land  for 
industrial  development  within  a  convenient 
radius  of  our  business  center,  it  becomes  desir- 
able in  the  remote  future  to  relieve  congestion 
to  the  eastward,  then  Angell  Street  can  be 
widened  and  transformed  into  a  boulevard 
toward  Red  Bridge  onto  which  the  present 
Waterman  Street  car  tracks  could  be  transferred, 
thus  concentrating  the  floiv  of  street  car  traffic, 
automobiles,  auto  trucks  and  carriages  in  a  single 
straight  pathway,  broad  enough  to  avoid  conges- 
tion. This  direct  avenue  would  tend  to  prevent 
the  scattering  of  this  class  of  transportation  over 
the  numerous  parallel  narrow  streets,  Water- 
man, George,  Benevolent,  etc.,  and  would  thus 
tend  to  preserve  the  quiet  residential  character  of 
the  district  surrounding  the  college,  and  extend- 
ing from  Waterman  to  Charles  Field,  and  Pros- 
pect to  Cook  Streets,  inclusive. 

A  large  growth  to  the  eastward  is  certain  to 
come.  It  is  certain  that  the  demand  for  the  most 
direct  and  ample  street  car  service  to  the  east- 
ward can  not  be  indefinitely  resisted.  It  is  certain 
that  a  subway  within  25  or  50  years  to  come  for 
putting  the  noise  and  congestion  of  these 
suburban  cars  under  ground  all  the  way  from 


Thayer  Street  to  near  the  Seekonk  is  an  illusive 
dream,  and  it  surely  is  better  to  provide  meeting 
the  issue  squarely  at  some  future  day  and  con- 
centrating all  this  traffic  in  one  broad,  ample 
channel,  designed  to  minimize  its  objectionable 
features,  rather  than  spread  the  congestion  and 
noise  over  several  narrow  streets  and  spoil  the 
chance  for  broad  future  treatment  by  centering 
the  street  car  traffic  at  Fones  Alley  and  Thayer 
Street. 

The  wholesome  growth  of  East  Providence  is 
to  the  benefit  of  Providence  and  the  industrial 
growth  of  East  Providence  and  Phillipsdale  is 
bound  to  continue;  likewise  the  industrial  oc- 
cupancy near  the  Providence  shore  of  the  harbor 
extension  immediately  south  of  Red  Bridge  is 
certain  to  go  on. 

Any  patriotic  citizen  of  broad  horizon  can 
hardly  escape  the  final  conclusion  that  it  is  better 
to  provide  for  the  future  growth  of  the  City 
along  easy  lines  than  to  try  to  smother  this 
growth  by  maintaining  difficulties  in  the  path. 

As  TO  A  RED  BRIDGE  SUBWAY. 

It  is  surely  worth  while  to  study  the  possibil- 
ities of  making  Providence  a  beautiful  city  in  a 
comprehensive  way,  although  we  may  be  com- 
pelled to  rest  ten  or  twenty  years  between  the 
great  steps  in  the  march  of  improvement. 

The  plan  presented  in  good  faith  at  the  public 
hearing  on  April  i8th,  and  incorporated  in  the 
so-called  Citizens'  Plan,  for  extending  a  tunnel 
from  Thayer  Street  to  Red  Bridge  in  the  form 
of  a  subway,  built  within  Fones  Alley  as  far  as 
it  goes,  to  Hope  Street,  thence  across  private 
grounds  which  real  estate  men  class  as  "choice 
residential  property,"  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
to  Ives  Street,  and  thence  down  Medway  Street, 
is  attractive  at  first  view,  but  appears  so  vision- 
ary when  one  patiently  works  out  its  necessary 
details  of  connection  to  the  surface  car  lines  and 
then  estimates  what  it  would  cost,  in  the  light  of 
what  the  simplest  forms  of  subway  have  else- 
where cost,  that  it  must  be  regarded  as  utterly 
hopeless  within  the  lifetime  of  any  present  city 
official  or  voter;  indeed,  competent  traction  ex- 
perts having  knowledge  of  subway  costs  and  diffi- 
culties in  other  cities,  with  whom  this  has  been 
discussed  have  dismissed  it  as  visionary,  offhand. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


29 


Approximate  estimates  of  cost  presented  on  a 
later  page,  show  that  such  a  subway  for  street 
cars  alone,  would  cost  about  two  million  dollars, 
which  is  about  $500,000  more  than  would  be  re- 
quired to  remove  or  set  back  most  of  the  houses 
on  the  north  side  of  Angell  Street  and  make  a 
boulevard  160  feet  wide  from  Brown  Street  to 
Red  Bridge,  ample  for  street  cars,  carriages,  auto- 
mobiles and  foot  passengers,  and  with  broad 
areas  for  grass,  shrubbery  and  trees  between. 

Particular  attention  is  called  to  plate  30  on 
page  71  and  plate  3oA  on  page  72,  which  show 
a  main  thoroughfare  with  car  tracks  and  car- 
riageways as  wide  as  Huntington  Avenue, 
Boston,  and  outside  of  this  on  each  side  a  strip 
24  feet  in  width  for  trees,  shrubbery  and  grass, 
all  obtainable  at  much  less  cost  than  the  subway. 

Within  the  twenty  or  more  years  before  this 
construction  would  be  begun,  there  would  be 
ample  time  for  readjustment  of  residences  and 
this  readjustment  would  doubtless  follow  better 
lines  than  if  it  is  the  prospect  that  suburban  cars 
will  forever  congest  these  two  extremely  narrow 
streets,  Angell  and  Waterman. 

I  believe  that  any  competent  persons  studying 
the  present  and  future  means  for  developing  the 
wholesome  growth  of  our  city  will  become  con- 
vinced that  while  better  means  of  surface  transit 
to  the  Red  Bridge  district  will  be  demanded  in 
the  future,  one  or  two  subways  Westerly  from 
Market  Square  or  Exchange  Place  zvill  be  feas- 
ible or  defensible  many  years  before  a  subway 
East  from  Thayer  Street  could  possibly  be 
financed  or  would  really  be  needed. 

LOCAL  RELIEF  VIA  THE  RAILROAD  TUNNEL. 

The  railroad  tunnel  under  College  Hill,  built 
a  few  years  ago,  is  primarily  intended  for  through 
traffic  to  Boston,  Fall  River,  Newport  and  Bristol 
and  to  shorten  the  time  from  New  York  to 
Maine. 

It  does  now  accommodate  a  large  volume  of 
passenger  traffic  from  East  Providence,  center- 
ing at  Watchemoket  Square,  and  to  that  extent 
already  relieves  the  East  Side  cars ;  but  this  use 
for  local  traffic  is  not  its  main  profitable  purpose, 
indeed,  I  am  told  this  local  traffic  is  viewed  as 
an  obstruction  to  the  main  object  for  which  the 
great  cost  of  this  tunnel  was  incurred. 


The  railroad  has  the  right  of  way  for  a  second 
tunnel  beside  the  first,  but  this,  too,  is  with  a  view 
to  meeting  problems  of  long  distance  speed,  from 
New  York  and  Connecticut  to  Boston,  the  White 
Mountains,  Bar  Harbor,  etc.,  and  the  problems 
of  a  future  larger  population,  located  far  beyond 
the  most  efficient  Providence  street  car  radius. 

WEST  SIDE  PROBLEMS,  ALSO. 

Altho  the  West  Side  of  the  city  is  today  far 
better  supplied  with  radial  avenues  and  breathing 
places  than  the  East  Side,  which  has  been  held 
back  in  development  by  the  natural  barrier  of  the 
hill,  the  opportunity  remains  for  some  citizen 
or  group  of  citizens  to  study  the  West  Side  and 
focus  attention  toward  some  comprehensive  plan, 
not  only  for  relieving  Westminster  Street  but  for 
improvement  in  many  other  particulars. 

For  example,  Washington  Street  is  far  from 
having  yet  come  to  its  own,  and  a  street-car 
surface  loop,  analogous  to  the  Chicago  elevated 
loop,  around  which  Pawtucket  street  cars  and  the 
other  suburban  cars  could  circulate  to  pick  up  and 
distribute  traffic  at  least,  around  Exchange  Place, 
Dorrance  Street,  Crawford  Street,  and  the  head 
of  Water  Street,  (and  perhaps  better  encircling  a 
still  broader  area),  for  surrounding  the  business 
and  civic  center,  is  worthy  of  future  study. 

We  have  already  the  beginnings  of  one  of  the 
very  finest  civic  centers  in  the  United  States, 
from  which  embellishment  of  the  city  should 
radiate  in  all  directions.  Civic  improvement 
and  civic  pride  will  in  course  of  time  surely  pay 
dividends. 

THE  FUTURE  TO  BE  PROVIDED  FOR. 

We  should  think  of  Providence  as  to  become, 
relatively  soon,  a  city  of  half  a  million  people, 
and  should  seek  to  so  guide  its  development 
toward  "The  City  Beautiful"  that  it  will  more 
and  more  attract  the  high-grade,  high-priced 
artisan  as  the  city  in  which  to  build  his  home. 

Our  University  and  our  School  of  Design  open 
doors  of  opportunity  to  his  children  and  our 
beautiful  Narragansett  Bay  offers  a  rare  pleasure 
ground  for  their  week-ends  and  holidays,  and 
our  metropolitan  park  system  will  not  always 
languish  as  at  present  for  lack  of  financial  sup- 
port. 


30 


^LJ._.L  _\    d 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


31 


There  is  every  reason  why  Providence,  already 
the  chief  center  in  America  for  the  manufacture 
of  fine  jewelry,  fine  silverware  and  fine  tools, 
could  become  under  a  wise  policy  of  publicity  and 
stimulation  of  civic  pride,  such  as  Denver,  for 
example,  has  been  cultivating  for  some  years  past 
under  Mayor  Speer,  the  foremost  home  on  this 
continent,  of  Art  applied  to  Industry. 

The  head  of  the  chief  New  England  railroad 
system  has  told  me  of  their  studies  for  a  vast 
development  of  their  wharves  and  docks  near 
India  Point,  and  that  Providence,  if  its  own  citi- 
zens would  not  hinder,  should  soon  become  the 
great  distributing  center  for  coastwise  commerce 
to  Central  New  England. 

Narragansett  Bay  has  one  of  the  very  finest 
sea  entrances  for  any  kind  of  weather,  that  exists 
on  the  Atlantic  shore  line  of  the  United  States ; 
and  only  the  dredging  of  a  deeper  channel  near 
the  head  of  the  Bay  is  needed  to  supplement  what 
nature  has  done. 

THE  "BOSTON  ROAD." 

Branching  off  from  Roger  Williams  Street  on 
the  plan  presented  with  my  report  of  April  ist, 
1911,  there  was  shown  about  half-way  up  the 
hill  the  beginning  of  a  broad  avenue  curving  to 
the  North  along  the  present  line  of  Congdon 
Street. 

One  of  the  factors  determining  the  location 
for  Roger  Williams  Street  was  the  opportunity 
presented  for  connection  on  a  convenient  and 
easy  grade  with  this  new  avenue  and  thus  aiding 
in  the  creation  of  a  broad  avenue  for  relieving 
the  congestion  of  traffic  to  and  from  the  growing 
northerly  quarter  of  the  city  and  the  Northern 
suburbs. 

The  present  street  car  entrance  and  exit  to 
the  Northwest,  along  North  Main  Street  and  over 
Constitution  Hill,  is  not  of  a  pleasing  character. 
It  runs  for  a  part  of  the  distance  through  a 
squalid  section  of  the  city  and  its  street  car  traffic 
is  congested  and  subject  to  delays  from  the  heavy 
teaming  that  follows  this  easy  grade  line. 

Congestion  and  interruption  to  rapid  flow  of 
travel  over  this  route  is  sure  to  increase  in  future 
and  any  diversion  of  street  car  passengers  over  the 
hillside  avenue  bordering  the  proposed  Overlook 
Park  and  thereby  giving  to  passengers  a  beauti- 


ful outlook  over  the  city  would  not  only  serve 
in  cheering  up  their  daily  routine,  but  would 
help  along  North  Main  Street  the  flow  of  heavy 
teams  and  motor  trucks  which  naturally  follow 
the  level  grade  of  North  Main  and  Canal  Streets 
in  passing  from  the  Northern  industrial  districts 
to  the  steamboat  wharves  and  the  freight  yards. 
There  would  be  <no  tendency  for  this  heavy  team- 
ing to  seek  the  steeper  grade  and  longer  route 
over  the  hill. 

For  ten  years  past  it  has  seemed  to  me  im- 
portant that  the  future  city  planning  should  pro- 
vide some  avenue  in  this  northeasterly  direction. 
The  late  E.  P.  Dawley,  Civil  Engineer,  had  often 
spoken  to  me  of  the  need  of  relief  for  traffic  in 
this  direction  but  suggested  that  it  be  obtained  by 
cutting  a  wide  swath  up  Constitution  Hill,  greatly 
widening  North  Main  Street,  to  the  foot  of  Olney 
Street  and  thence  continuing  by  a  new  broad 
street  to  be  cut  diagonally  across  lots  up  an  easy- 
grade  toward  the  Northeast.  I  believe  the  plan 
cf  the  Boston  Road  via  Roger  Williams  Street 
serves  the  traffic  equally  as  well  and  adds  far 
more  to  the  beauty  of  the  city  and  at  less  cost. 

A  walk  today  up  Congdon  Street  to  Jenks 
Street,  tarrying  for  a  few  moments  at  Prospect 
Park,  will  convince  anyone  that  we  have  here 
the  opportunity  for  a  sightly  avenue  not  excelled 
in  New  England,  and  it  will  also  be  noted  that 
the  number  of  buildings  to  be  disturbed  is  smaller 
than  commonly  attends  opening  new  main 
thoroughfares  in  the  midst  of  populous  com- 
munities. 

The  northerly  side  of  the  avenue  opposite  the 
proposed  park  would  doubtless  become  the  site 
of  many  beautiful  homes.  The  present  noise 
and  smoke  of  locomotives  will  be  lessened  or 
removed  when  electric  traction  is  extended  here. 
The  views  of  this  hillside  park  from  the  railroad 
and  from  the  vicinity  of  the  State  House  and  the 
Normal  School  would  all  help  advertise  the 
attraction  of  Providence. 

It  will  be  noted  from  Sheet  No.  22  that  at  its 
northerly  end  this  "Boston  Road"  distributes  its 
traffic  conveniently  to  the  Camp  Street  district 
and  also  up  Hope  Street  toward  Pawtucket  and 
to  the  growing  district  between  the  north  end  of 
Olney  Street  and  Rochambeau  Avenue. 


32 


"          '   l\      o 

*  A~^''  ft    I  3AV  axcm  3>     K' 


33 


34 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


The  building  of  Roger  Williams  Street  from 
Post  Office  Square  to  Brown  Street  in  no  way 
necessitates  incurring  in  the  near  future  any  large 
expense  on  account  of  the  Boston  Road,  but  the 
location  selected  for  the  100  foot  Roger  Williams 
Street  is  so  planned  as  to  make  tliis  ncic  north- 
erly boulevard  possible  whenever  it  may  be 
deemed  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  building  it. 
DISTRIBUTION  vs.  CONGESTION. 

The  effort  in  all  street  planning  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  head  of  Providence  Harbor  should  be  to 
avoid  the  evils  of  congestion,  seen  not  only  in 
Providence  but  in  many  other  cities,  by  means 
of  broad  avenues  so  placed  as  to  distribute  rather 
than  concentrate  and  congest  the  traffic.  The 
plan  for  the  future  should  seek  to  distribute  the 
traffic  between  Washington  Street  and  Westmin- 
ster Street  on  the  West  Side  of  the  civic  center 
and  to  divide  the  traffic  between  Roger  Williams 
Street  and  the  proposed  future  Crawford  Street 
viaduct,  or  Bristol  Road,  on  the  East  Side  of 
the  river. 

In  order  to  achieve  their  fullest  use,  these  main 
avenues  must  proceed  along  obvious,  natural  and 
direct  lines,  such  that  drivers  of  automobiles  and 
auto  trucks  will  automatically  follow  them,  and 
these  main  avenues  must  be  sufficiently  broad — 
never  less  than  about  seventy  feet  of  carriage- 
way between  the  curbs — so  that  on  either  side  of 
the  double  street  car  tracks  there  is  ample  room 
for  a  fast-moving  vehicle  to  pass  a  slow-moving 
vehicle  on  the  same  side  of  the  street  car  tracks, 
notwithstanding  a  third  vehicle  is  stopped  at  the 
curb,  as  is  illustrated  in  Sheet  No.  4  of  the  draw- 
ings. 

In  somewhat  the  same  way  that  a  two-track 
steam  railroad  can  move  four  or  six  times  the 
traffic  of  a  single  track  road,  by  lessening  the 
stoppages  and  slow-downs,  so  a  few  extra  feet 
in  width  of  a  crowded  street  adds  surprisingly 
to  its  capacity  for  rapid  flow  of  traffic. 

Market  Street  in  San  Francisco,  Hennepin 
Avenue  in  Minneapolis,  Huntington  Avenue  in 
Boston,  Massachusetts  Avenue  in  Cambridge,  the 
chief  business  streets  of  Salt  Lake  City,  the 
Paseo  de  la  Reforma  in  the  City  of  Mexico  and 
many  others,  illustrate  streets  of  sufficient  width 
of  traveled  way  to  permit  rapid  vehicular  transit 
alongside  double  street  railroad  tracks.  On  the 


other  hand,  Boylston  Street  in  Boston,  Second 
Avenue  in  Seattle  and  almost  any  one  of  the 
broadest  present  streets  within  the  populous  parts 
of  Providence  will  illustrate  the  delay  and  inter- 
ruption to  rapid  flow  of  traffic  caused  by  even  a 
slight  trimming  down  of  the  width  below  seventy 
feet,  or  at  least  sixty-six  feet,  between  curbs. 
WIDTHS  FOR  MAIN  AVENUES  OF  TRAVEL. 
In  the  earlier  days  of  these  studies  I  had 
mapped  out  certain  portions  of  the  East  Side 
Approach  as  from  seventy  to  eighty  feet  in  width, 
but  after  studiously  observing  the  conditions  of 
street  traffic  in  many  populous  cities  in  this  coun- 
try and  abroad,  I  am  convinced  beyond  a  doubt 
that  these  main  thoroughfares  for  the  future 
Providence  should  nowhere  be  less  than  ninety 
feet  in  total  width  or  have  less  than  sixty-six  or 
seventy  feet  in  the  carriage  path,  including  the 
two  street  car  tracks.  One  hundred  feet  in  total 
width  will  in  nearly  all  cases  be  found  well  worth 
its  extra  cost. 

This  may  be  impracticable  here  and  there  for 
short  distances,  to  maintain  the  full  width  of  an 
avenue  as  on  the  projected  Boston  Road  near 
the  Pumping  station  (or  in  Roger  Williams 
Street  under  the  Prospect  Arch)  but  short  con- 
strictions, like  these,  work  relatively  little  harm 
and  are  no  valid  excuse  for  trimming  down  to 
the  same  width  all  along. 

CONCERNING  THE  DRAWINGS  PRESENTED. 

Drawings  add  so  greatly  to  the  understanding 
of  a  project,  the  recent  processes  of  relief-line 
photo-engraving  are  so  cheap  and  the  burial  in 
forgotten  pigeon-holes  of  drawings  that  have 
cost  much  thought  and  labor  is  so  common,  that 
it  has  seemed  both  wise  and  economical  to  pre- 
sent with  this  report  photo-reductions  of  many  of 
the  drawings  on  a  scale  which  is  legible  with  a 
reading  glass  in  all  important  features,  and  to 
urge  the  distribution  of  a  fairly  generous  edition 
of  the  report  containing  these  drawings. 

Whether  or  not  Roger  Williams  Street  is  to 
be  built  now  or  ten  years  hence,  the  problem  of 
beautifying  the  city  should  always  have  a  place  in 
the  thoughts  of  the  citizens  and  these  definite 
street  lines  may  at  least  give  something  on  which 
thoughts  can  be  focussed,  or  modifications  de- 
vised. 


35 


36 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


Morevover,  the  presentation  of  detailed  plans 
and  estimates  of  cost  help  to  a  more  general  un- 
derstanding by  the  non-technical,  that  safe  con- 
clusions on  problems  of  this  kind  can  be  reached 
only  by  the  aid  of  detailed  scale  drawings,  and  by 
a  review  of  the  actual  real  estate  values,  and  a 
computation  of  quantities  and  costs. 

Copies  of  the  original  of  each  of  these  draw- 
ings, on  sheets  24-inches  x  36-inches  inside  the 
border  line,  are  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  City 
Engineer  of  Providence,  and  two  sets  have  been 
delivered  to  the  Vice-President  and  General 
Manager  of  the  Rhode  Island  Company  for  the 
Providence  and  New  York  offices  respectively, 
as  a  basis  for  an  answer  to  the  inquiry  made  on 
behalf  of  this  Committee  as  to  the  extent  to  which 
owners  of  the  street  railroad  would  contribute 
toward  either  an  open  street  or  a  tunnel,  or  pay 
in  form  of  annual  rental  for  trackage  rights  over 
"Roger  Williams  Street." 

A  SOUTHERLY  EASY-GRADE  CROSSING  FROM 

DORRANCE  TO    BENEFIT    STREETS. 

The  study  for  a  broad  thoroughfare  to  the 
Southeast,  starting  from  Dyer  Street  and  bridg- 
ing the  river  south  of,  and  contiguous,  to  Craw- 
ford Street  Bridge,  as  shown  on  Sheets  Nos.  23 
to  28,  inclusive,  was  the  outgrowth  of  a  sugges- 
tion made  to  me  by  Senator  H.  F.  Lippitt  and  of 
studying  means  of  relieving  the  present  conges- 
tion centering  in  Market  Square. 

Obviously,  if  the  city  grows  both  easterly  and 
westerly  from  the  river  at  any  such  rate  as  the 
twenty  to  thirty  per  cent,  increase  in  geometric 
ratio  which  was  achieved  in  each  of  the  last  two 
decades,  and  with  the  prospect  that  the  future 
industrial  growth  will  be  largely  beyond  Red 
Bridge,  and  also  if  Providence  wakens  to  its 
opportunities,  which  non-resident  railroad  and 
steamboat  men  appear  to  comprehend  better  than 
resident  citizens,  of  becoming  the  great  dis- 
tributing center  for  coastwise  traffic  through, 
Central  New  England,  the  early  day  can  be  fore- 
seen when  more  than  double  the  present  street 
traffic  must  cross  the  rircr  between  the  narroiv 
limits  of  Post  Office  Square  and  the  Crawford 
Street  bridge. 

The  railroad  freight  yards  absolutely  prohibit  a 
widening  on  the  northerly  side  of  this  congested 


throat  and  the  navigation  interests  appear  to 
limit  widening  on  the  south.  This  central  loca- 
tion of  the  freight  yards  can  so  admirably  min- 
ister to  the  economies  of  commercial  development, 
prompt  shipments  of  manufactures  and  prompt 
distribution  of  incoming  freight,  that  probably 
these  freight  yards  are  here  to  stay  and  will  not 
be  replaced  by  parks  within  our  lifetime,  in 
spite  of  the  objections  that  have  been  urged  by 
certain  artists  when  describing  their  dreams  of 
the  city  beautiful.  And  as  I  have  elsewhere 
urged,  the  head  of  navigation  for  pleasure  steam- 
boats should  not  be  crowded  away  from  the  civic 
center. 

Point  Street  bridge,  while  already  crowded  to 
the  limit  and  affording  an  avenue  for  freight 
handling  around  the  Eastern  and  Western  water- 
fronts, is  out  of  the  line  between  the  homes  and 
the  chief  retail  and  financial  districts. 

Several  of  the  East  Side  Approach  plans  of  the 
past  ten  years,  notably  the  original  Makepeace 
Steel  Viaduct  Plan,  the  Gov.  Lippitt  Plan  and 
some  of  the  Francis  Plans  have  sought  a  loca- 
tion south  of  Market  Square  and  the  College 
Grounds. 

The  question  therefore  came  naturally  as  to 
whether  the  location  of  the  first  new  easy-grade 
street  up  the  hill  might  not  better  be  moved  suf- 
ficiently far  south  and  upon  such  an  alinement 
that  a  broad  street  connecting  with  it  could  be 
cut  westerly  to  meet  the  angle  in  Weybosset 
Street  and  ultimately  receive  and  distribute  traf- 
fic to  the  busy  and  important  center  at  the  broad 
intersection  of  Dorrance  and  Weybosset  Streets, 
as  well  as  down  Dyer  and  out  Pine  and  Friend- 
ship Streets. 

There  can,  I  believe,  be  no  question  of  the 
utility  and  economy  of  a  street  along  the  location 
which  I  have  laid  out  on  Sheet  No.  19,  and  which 
is  shown  in  smaller  scale  on  Sheet  No.  13,  and 
on  large  scale  in  Sheets  Nos.  23,  24,  25,  26,  27, 
and  28. 

This  location  has  been  studied  out  by  going 
repeatedly  over  the  ground  with  a  view  to  the 
value  of  the  land  and  buildings  that  would  have 
to  be  taken  and  the  location  has  been  extended  to 
the  Southeast  with  a  view  to  making  it  also  serve 
as  part  of  a  comprehensive  scheme  that  would  be 


37 


ffifo 

II  i;  V*     IB! 


40 


o 

u) 

z 


<  u 
"X 


i 

o 


u 

z 
J 

K 

U 

U       00 


O  "* 
-I   5 

<    §? 


O 

ft 

D- 


41 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


43 


useful,  year  by  year,  for  a  hundred  and  more 
years  to  come,  and  in  connection  with  the  best 
development  of  the  city  as  a  commercial  center 
and  as  a  comfortable  and  beautiful  place  in  which 
to  live. 

THE  HEAD  OF  NAVIGATION. 
For  the  long  future  it  will  be  wise  to  retain  the 
landing  for  recreation  steamboats  as  close  as  pos- 
sible to  the  civic  center,  just  as  at  Hamburg  one 
starts  for  his  voyage  around  the  Alster  Basin 
from  the  Jungfernsteig,  or  in  London  takes  the 
excursion  boat  down  the  Thames  from  London 
Bridge,  or  in  Paris  takes  the  river  boat  along- 
side the  Garden  of  the  Tulleries.  And  here  the 
statement  may  be  interjected  that  the  view  down 
the  Harbor  from  the  civic  center  and  from  the 
steam  cars  should  always  be  kept  open,  as  a  re- 
minder to  railroad  passengers  that  Providence  is 
a  seaport,  rather  than  to  shut  off  this  interesting 
vista  by  any  such  undignified  structure  as  is  from 
time  to  time  proposed  by  those  who  cannot  see  a 
building  site  unless  it  is  vacant  or  who  look  only 
toward  getting  a  building  lot  free  of  cost. 

THE  ARNOLD  BLOCK  LOCATION  THE  BEST. 
After  studying  various  possible  routes  for  cross- 
ing the  river  by  an  East  Side  Approach,  at  loca- 
tions ranging  all  the  way  from  near  the  railroad 
station  to  as  far  South  as  Crawford  Street,  it  ap- 
pears plain  that  present  needs  and  future  develop- 
ments will  be  best  served  by  laying  out  the  first 
streets  to  be  built,  on  the  line  shown  in  Sheets 
Nos.  2  and  3,  and  designated  thereon  as  "Roger 
Williams  Street,"  and  that  this  should  be  built 
immediately  from  Post  Office  Square  to  Brown 
Street,  on  a  line  with  Washington  Street,  leaving 
the  building  of  another  main  thoroughfare  for 
distributing  traffic  between  the  two  sides  of  the 
river,  westerly  and  easterly  from  Crawford 
Street,  for  consideration  perhaps  ten  years  hence. 

ESTIMATES  OF  COST. 

The  following  estimate  of  cost  of  Roger  Wil- 
liams Street  was  prepared  under  my  supervision 
and  almost  daily  consultation,  by  Mr.  Horace 
Ropes,  an  Engineer  of  more  than  thirty  years 
experience  on  railroad  construction  and  large 
public  works.  Mr.  Ropes'  former  experience  as 
Locating  Engineer  for  the  Atchison,  Topeka  & 
Santa  Fe  Railroad,  and  his  later  experience  for 


ten  or  fifteen  years  in  some  of  the  most  import- 
ant positions  on  the  engineering  staff  of  the 
Boston  Metropolitan  Water  Board  and  elsewhere, 
have  given  him  exceptional  experience  with 
methods  and  costs  of  acquiring  land  and  building 
heavy  work. 

In  his  studies  of  the  various  matters  entering 
into  the  cost  of  the  proposed  Roger  Williams 
Street  and  its  accessory  works,  much  care  was 
taken  to  supplement  experience  elsewhere  by 
seeking  reliable  local  data  as  to  costs  in  the  office 
of  the  Providence  City  Engineer  and  in  the  office 
of  the  Engineers  of  New  York,  New  Haven  & 
Hartford  R.  R.,  by  whom  the  recent  railroad  tun- 
nel under  College  Hill  was  constructed. 

In  estimating  land  damages,  the  general  rule 
where  all  of  a  piece  of  property  was  to  be  taken, 
was  to  add  50%  to  its  most  recent  valuation  by  the 
tax  assessors,  in  order  to  cover  the  possible  cost 
of  condemnation,  legal  expenses  and  contingen- 
cies. I  was  assured  by  city  officials  having  ex- 
perience with  previous  takings  of  lands  in  Provi- 
dence that  this  was  a  safe  basis  for  estimating 
and  it  is  widely  known  that  many  protests  and 
much  public  discussion  within  the  past  year  or 
two  has  tended  to  show  that  the  assessors'  valua- 
tions, particularly  of  land  in  the  business  part  of 
the  city,  are  on  a  very  high  scale,  and  I  doubt  not 
that  where  the  estimate  may  be  in  some  cases  too 
low,  it  is  too  high  in  enough  other  cases  to  offset 
this. 

In  the  case  of  property  injured  by  taking  only 
a  portion  or  where  buildings  have  had  to  be  cut 
down  or  removed,  the  problem  of  injury  and 
probable  damages  was  studied  in  the  field  in  a 
liberal  spirit  and  in  many  cases,  an  estimate  was 
made  of  the  cost  of  the  rearrangement  required 
for  fitting  in  with  the  new  grade  in  the  best  pos- 
sible manner,  and  in  other  cases,  where  the  dam- 
age was  chiefly  sentimental  or  where  it  could  be 
measured  only  as  a  matter  of  personal  judg- 
ment, the  figures  adopted  were  intended  to  be  so 
liberal  as  to  more  than  cover  any  reasonable  de- 
mand and  to  allow,  beyond  this,  a  sufficient  mar- 
gin for  condemnation  expenses.  The  awards 
made  for  damages  to  sundry  estates  by  the  con- 
struction of  the  recent  railroad  tunnel  under  Col- 
lege Hill,  and  the  prices  voluntarily  accepted  in 
other  cases,  were  available  as  guides. 


44 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


POST  OFFICE  SQUARE  AND  REGION  OF  PROPOSED  APPROACH 

Photographed  from  Fire  Station  Tower,  looking  Easterly 

The  location  suggested  for  a  municipal  auditorium   is  just  to  the  left  of  Roger  Williams  Street. 

Probably  there  is  no  other  site  so  convenient  to  all  quarters  of  the  present  and  future  city  and  to  the  cen- 
ter of  all  transportation  lines, — foot,  horse,  gasolene,  electric,  and  steam, — where  the  necessary  area  with  ample 
space,  free  from  fire  hazard  on  each  side,  could  be  obtained  at  so  small  a  cost  as  here. 

With  this  building  as  a  beginning,  the  entire  east  front  .of  Post  Office  Square  would  doubtless  soon  be 
rebuilt  with  modern  office  buildings,  because  of  proximity  to  Post  Office,  Railroad  Station,  and  the  best  residen- 
tial districts. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


45 


VIEW    FROM     FIRST    BAPTIST  SPIRE    LOOKING    WESTERLY, 
SHOWING    RELATION    OF    ROGER    WILLIAMS    ST.    TO   PRE5ENT_ 

The  above  view  illustrates  how  well  this  proposed  alignment  of  the  principal  Eastern  thoroughfare  would 
fall  in  with  the  civic  center  and  give  a  straight-away  connection  to  Washington  Street,  which  is  one  of  the 
main  avenues  to  the  Westward. 

Note  also  that  the  bridges  over  North  Main  Street  and  Canal  Street  provide  complete  separation  of 
the  East  Side  current  of  traffic  from  the  North  and  South  currents,  to  and  from  the  freight  yards  and  steam- 
boat wharves,  thus  avoiding  delay  to  street  cars,  automobiles,  etc. 

The  special  advantage  of  this  separation  of  the  grades  is  that  it  avoids  danger  to  pedestrians  from  the 
East  Side  as  they  come  to  the  business  center  or  the  railroad  station. 


46 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


As  a  basis  for  estimating  structural  costs,  the 
drawings  were  made  after  first  computing  the 
stresses,  with  fullness  sufficient  for  contract 
drawings  on  a  unit-cost  basis,  and  so  as  to  show 
every  important  member,  as  will  be  seen  by  in- 
specting the  sheets  submitted  herewith ;  then  the 
quantities  of  each  kind  of  material  were  computed 
with  the  same  degree  of  thoroughness  as  for 
letting  a  contract. 

Obviously,  if  the  work  were  to  be  done  by  day 
labor,  with  workmen  paid  at  more  than  the  pre- 
vailing rate  of  contractor's  wages  and  under 
conditions  that  are  believed  to  sometimes  prevail 
on  municipal  work  in  various  cities,  this  would 
swell  the  cost  over  that  which  could  be  obtained 
from  contractors  of  the  best  standing;  and  if 
"the  work  contemplated  could  be  carried  out  un- 
der the  excellent  organization  which  the  New 
York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  R.  R.  Co.  main- 
tains for  its  own  purposes,  or  the  same  organiza- 
tion as  that  under  which  the  railroad  would 
probably  build  a  tunnel,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
some  saving  could  be  made  from  the  unit  prices 
and  from  the  total  structural  costs  that  have  been 
figured  in  this  estimate.  It  has,  however,  seemed 
to  me  wise  for  present  purposes  to  figure  these 
structural  costs  on  a  liberal  basis. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  structural  cost 
for  the  street  one  hundred  feet  wide,  including 
the  Canal  Street  viaduct  and  the  Prospect  Street 
archway  and  the  moving  of  all  excavated  mate- 
rial to  build  up  the  end  of  the  proposed  Overlook 
Park,  although  it  provides  both  for  street  cars 
and  vehicular  and  pedestrian  traffic  up  and  down 
the  hill,  costs  less  than  the  structural  work  on  a 
tunnel  for  street  cars  only.  Tunnelling  in  the 
crushed,  unsound  and  slippery  graphitic  ledges 
that  underlie  College  Hill  is  a  very  expensive 
type  of  work. 

THE  CHIEF  ESTIMATED  EXPENSE  is  FOR  LAND. 

In  my  preliminary  report,  the  total  cost  for 
land  and  structures  was  estimated  at  "about 
$1,350,000,"  but  an  extension  of  the  proposed 
takings  for  the  dumping  ground  to  be  made  into 
Overlook  Park,  together  with  more  liberal  allow- 
ance for  some  of  the  possible  damages  has 
swelled  this. 


Of  the  figure  that  I  have  now  arrived  at, 
$1,431,000,  only  about  one-third  is  absorbed  by 
all  the  structures  connected  with  Roger  Williams 
Street,  including  excavation,  viaducts  and  bank 
walls,  and  the  other  two-thirds  is  made  up  of  the 
prices  estimated  to  be  paid  for  land  and  damages, 
including  the  Arnold  Block  property.  I  believe 
that  these  land  damages  for  the  open  street  have 
been  estimated  on  a  far  more  liberal  basis  than 
the  land  and  easement  damages  estimated  by  the 
City  Engineer  for  his  Tunnel  plan.  (I  think  it  is 
most  probable  that  the  City  Engineer's  estimate 
should  be  increased  $100,000  on  land  and  by 
another  $100,000  if,  as  is  most  highly  probable, 
the  front  building  of  the  School  of  Design  and  the 
Carr  house  have  to  be  taken.) 

The  land  damages  are  swelled  to  the  extent  of 
nearly  one-third  of  a  million  dollars  above  what 
they  would  otherwise  be,  by  the  proposed  tak- 
ings of  5.4  acres  of  hillside  land  to  be  trans- 
formed into  a  park,  by  dumping  the  surplus 
material  excavated  from  Roger  Williams  Street, 
between  Congdon  and  Benefit  Streets  and 
extending  Northerly  to  Bowen  Street,  and  by 
additional  small  pieces  outside  the  lines  of  the 
proposed  100  foot  street,  that  may  be  used  for 
a  park-like  effect  along  its  borders,  near  Benefit 
Street  and  near  Brown  Street. 

After  *making  due  allowance  for  the  contribu- 
tion which  the  president  of  the  company  owning 
or  controlling  the  street  railroad  system  has 
promised  for  the  privileges  of  laying  its  tracks 
on  this  street  between  Post  Office  Square  and 
Brown  Street,  it  is  a  fair  statement  that  half  of 
all  the  city's  expenditure  in  connection  with 
Roger  Williams  Street  between  the  Post  Office 
and  Brown  Street,  would  be  derated  to  making 
beautiful  the  borders  of  the  street  and  to  the 
creation  of  a  beautiful  park,  close  to  the  center 
of  the  city,  and  unrivalled  in  sightliness  and 
location  anywhere  in  the  East. 

Presenting  the  same  fact  in  other  words,  after 
charging  to  the  park  its  fair  share  of  the  whole 
cost,  the  street  railway  will  pay  the  whole  cost  of 
the  loo-foot  street  from  Post  Office  Square  to 
Brown  Street,  in  return  for  trackage  rights  along 
its  center. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


47 


ROGER   WILLIAMS   STREET 

FROM  BENEFIT  ST  UP  THE  HILL 

TO  PROSPECT  ST. 

AS  IT  WOULD   APPEAR  IF 
THE:  PARTS  OF  LOTS  TAKEN 

C    CITY    WtRE     NOT 
50LO     BUT  PERMANENTLY 
DEVOTED  TO  PARKS. 

l  from  sleep*  of  T.rgl   Bepl.il  Uect.ng  Ho) 


Note  there  is  no  canyon-like  effect,  because  of  the  depth  of  open  cut  required 
for  obtaining  the  easy  grade.  The  high  retaining  walls  extend  only  for  the  length 
of  the  several  Grosvenor  properties  and  these  walls  can  easily  be  given  architectu- 
ral treatment  no  less  beautiful  than  the  walls  of  any  monumental  building  which 
stands  close  to  the  street  line. 


48 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


VIEW  UP  ANGELL  ST.  FROM  FIRST  BAPTIST  SPIRE  SHOWING  RELATION  TO  EASY  GRADE..SIRE:ET. 

Note  that  all  this  area  would  be  deprived  of  street  car  service  if  Tunnel  from  North  Main  5>.  to  Thayer  Sf.were  builh 

Roger  Williams  Street  connects  at  substantially  the  present  grade  with  Benefit  Street,  the  Waterman 
Street  curve  and  Brown  Street  and  presents  a  new  connection  at  grade  with  Congdon  Street,  and  thus  gives 
the  best  possible  access  for  street  car  passengers  to  the  Court  Houses,  the  University  Club,  and  the  future 
buildings  of  the  School  of  Design. 

Prospect  Street  is  reached  from  the  street  cars  by  means  of  a  stairway,  as  shown  on  Plate  No.  15, 
while  with  the  tunnel  plan  it  is  reached  only  by  climbing  the  whole  length  and  height  of  College  Hill. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


49 


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ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


REVISKD  ESTIMATES  OF  COST  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 

STREET. 

The  total  estimated  cost  for  the  proposed 
Roger  Williams  Street,  beginning  in  Post  Office 
Square,  with  the  bridge  over  the  river,  and  ending 
about  three  hundred  yards  easterly  from  Brown 
Street,  including  the  widening  and  re-grading  of 
Brown  Street,  the  building  of  retaining  walls, 
concrete  viaducts,  street  surfacing,  sidewalks,  re- 
laying of  water  and  sewer  pipes,  and  including 
engineering,  contingencies,  and  liabil- 
ity insurance  is $468,270 

The  estimated  cost  of  land  and  dam- 
ages along  Roger  Williams  Street, 
including  the  purchase  of  the 

Arnold  Block  estate  is 694,535 

The  estimated  cost  of  acquiring  5.4 
acres  of  land  and  demolition  of 
buildings  on  same,  for  dumping 
ground,  and  park  westerly  from 
Prospect  Terrace,  extending  north- 
erly to  Bowen  Street,  not  including 
shaping  up  in  form  for  park  pur- 
poses, which  is  mainly  covered  in 
the  above  item  for  structures  is. .  .  231,780 
The  estimated  cost  of  land  between 
DeFoe  Place  and  Congdon  Street, 
for  giving  access  to  this  dump  and 
for  the  beginning  of  the  "Boston 
Road"  is *  . . .  36,150 


Making  a  total  of $1,430,735 

COST  OF  SOME  ADDITIONAL  PARKING  ALONG 
BORDERS  OF  STREET. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  cost  has  been 
estimated  for  additional  grading,  surfacing,  and 
retaining  walls  for  putting  surplus  land,  whose 
cost  is  included  above  but  which  lies  outside  the 
100  foot  street  limits,  in  shape  for  border-parks 
along  Roger  Williams  Street,  near  Benefit  Street 
and  near  Brown  Street,  retaining  these  parcels 
of  land  instead  of  offering  them  for  sale,  thereby- 
adding  to  the  effective  park  area  about  1.7  acres 
in  these  roadside  parks,  all  of  which  extra  cost  of 
parking  it  is  estimated  will  amount  to  $15,890. 

(This  grading  and  walling  could  be  omitted 
or  deferred.) 


There  are  still  other  parcels  of  land  aggregat- 
ing about  1.56  acres  lying  between  Benefit  Street 
and  Brown  Street  which  it  appears  best  for  the 
city  to  acquire  completely  instead  of  taking  only 
a  part,  the  major  portion  of  which  may,  without 
detriment  to  the  use  of  the  street,  be  re-sold  for 
new  buildings,  under  restrictions  such  as  will 
add  to  the  beauty  of  the  avenue  and  prevent  the 
''commercializing"  that  some  fear. 

It  will  obviously  add  to  the  beauty  of  the  city, 
pending  such  re-sale,  to  grade  this  land  down 
conformably  to  the  new  street  level,  and  what- 
ever this  regrading  costs  will  be  more  than  re- 
covered in  the  price,  for  it  can  be  done  in  con- 
nection with  the  main  excavation  much  more 
cheaply  than  by  piecemeal  and  the  material  would 
go  to  swell  the  amount  for  grading  the  ground 
for  Overlook  Park.  One  of  the  parcels  of  land 
to  which  this  paragraph  applies  is  that  easterly 
of  and  adjacent  to  the  proposed  new  location  for 
the  Court  House,  shown  upon  plan  No.  2,  as 
utilized  for  a  new  Law  Library, — a  fire-proof 
building  which  is  already  much  needed. 

The  immediate  additional  expenditure  involved 
in  grading  this  land  for  re-sale  to  the  new  level, 
including  land  damages  incident  thereto,  is  esti- 
mated at  $30,200 ;  but,  as  already  intimated,  this 
grading  need  not  be  done  by  the  city  and  should 
not  be  charged  against  the  Roger  Williams 
Street  project. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  for  some  of  this  land, 
as  for  that  reclaimed  some  years  ago  by  filling  in 
"The  Cove,"  the  salvage  value  of  which  figured 
ir  all  the  preliminary  discussion,  there  would  be 
no  re-sale  and  instead  it  would  be  retained  for 
an  additional  park  or  breathing  place,  or  for 
some  minor  civic  building.  It  is  a  wise  investment 
for  the  future  of  Providence  to  acquire  and  hold 
fast  every  such  open  space,  though  we  leave  its 
landscape  architecture  to  posterity. 

The  details  of  these  estimates  of  structural 
costs  and  cost  of  acquiring  land  are  given  in 
Appendix  A. 

BETTERMENTS. 

The  method  of  recovering  part  of  an  expendi- 
ture for  public  improvement  by  the  assessment 
of  Betterments  is  common  in  most  American 
cities.  It  has  proved  a  most  useful  instrument 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


51 


in  working  out  the  great  problems  of  public  im- 
provement with  promptness  and  justice  in  many 
American  cities  East  and  West,  particularly  in 
the  West;  and  was  followed  in  Providence  for 
many  years,  particularly  in  the  Washington 
Street  and  Eddy  Street  widenings ;  but  it  has  re- 
cently been  abandoned  here. 

Its  local  unpopularity  so  far  as  I  can  learn, 
resulted  from  an  indiscreet  extension  of  the 
principle  so  that  betterment  damages  were  as- 
sessed on  property  within  debatable  ground  far 
outside  the  immediate  limits  of  the  improvement, 
on  the  theory  that  a  property  far  up  the  street  or 
off  to  one  side  on  a  tributary  street,  which  was 
furnished  a  better  roadway  toward  the  center 
should  bear  part  of  the  cost. 

It  is  not  strange  that  such  a  forced  extension 
of  the  betterment  principle  brought  its  applica- 
tion into  disfavor.  Any  gradual  and  fair  shading 
off  of  the  burden  in  zones  of  betterment,  extend- 
ing beyond  the  limits  of  the  work,  is  obviously  a 
matter  of  most  difficult  determination  and  can 
lead  to  endless  dissatisfaction.  Nevertheless,  I 
believe  there  is  so  much  of  fairness  and  justice 
and  practicability  in  a  restricted  application  of 
this  principle  of  assessing  betterments,  that  it 
should  not  be  abandoned  while  seeking  means 
for  realizing  the  Boston  Road,  the  Bristol  Road, 
or  even  while  building  Roger  Williams  Street. 

For  illustration,  granting  that  any  reasonable 
man  would  pay  more  for  the  property  North  and 
South  of  the  Arnold  Block  after  a  100  foot  street 
had  made  it  a  most  attractive  corner  lot,  why 
should  not  the  city  recover  a  part  of  the  large 
increase  in  value  wrought  by  its  expenditure, 
immediately,  rather  than  by  the  slow  and  inade- 
quate process  of  increased  taxation  ? 

EXCESS  CONDEMNATION. 

A  further  application  of  the  "betterment"  idea 
should  not  be  overlooked  during  all  these  discus- 
sions upon  civic  improvements.  In  Glasgow, 
London,  and  various  other  cities  abroad  the 
method  of  acquiring  by  eminent  domain  a  broader 
area  than  needed  for  street  purposes  alone,  par- 
ticularly in  squalid  or  unsightly  neighborhoods, 
paying  liberally  for  these  on  the  basis  of  present 
value,  then  removing  the  eye-sores,  and  after  the 
new  broad  street  is  completed,  selling  off  the 
surplus  land  under  very  carefully  drawn  restric- 


tions as  to  its  future  use,  has  proved  very  advan- 
tageous and  is  now  being  actively  considered  in 
several  American  cities. 

Hon.  Nathan  Matthews,  Jr.,  when  Mayor  of 
Boston,  urged  that  Boston  establish  this  as  one  of 
its  methods  of  municipal  improvement,  and 
gathered  much  interesting  information  from 
abroad  pertaining  thereto,  but  apparently  the 
psychological  moment  had  not  then  arrived. 
Recent  visitors  to  London  will  have  noted  the 
vast  improvement  wrought  by  the  new  King's 
Way — all  of  which  it  has  been  stated  will  be 
secured  without  any  ultimate  cost  to  the  munici- 
pajity,  from  the  betterment  of  the  property  taken, 
improved  and  resold. 

ESTIMATES  OF   COST  OF  TUNNEL 

FROM  NORTH  MAIN  STREET 

TO  THAYER  STREET. 

Conformably  to  the  request  of  the  City  Coun- 
cil by  resolution  of  July  6th  and  September  nth, 
1911,  the  Committee  on  East  Side  Approach 
presented  to  the  City  Council  on  September  28th, 
1911,  a  report,  covering  the  cost  of  a  tunnel  as 
estimated  by  the  City  Engineer. 

It  is  of  interest  to  place  in  parallel  columns 
this  new  estimate  by  the  City  Engineer  and  the 
estimate  made  two  years  ago  by  the  Engineers 
of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  R.  R., 
when  this  matter  was  under  negotiations  between 
the  Railroad  and  the  City,  through  a  Committee 
of  which  Alderman  C.  R.  Makepeace  was  Chair- 
man. 

The  tunnel  of  two  years  ago  and  the  tunnel 
as  recently  laid  out  by  the  City  Engineer  are  on 
precisely  the  same  general  location  and  gradient 
and  have  almost  precisely  the  same  terminals  and 
dimensions  and  occupy  substantially  the  same 
land.  A  slightly  increased  quantity  of  land  has, 
however,  been  marked  for  taking  on  the  latest 
plan,  near  the  Thayer  Street  end,  in  order  to 
provide  rear  access  to  lots  and  to  give  an  easier 
curvature  to  the  street  car  tracks. 

In  considering  these  estimates  of  cost  it  is  of 
interest  to  note  that  Vice-President  E.  H.  Mc- 
Henry,  under  date  of  May  a8th,  1909,  in  trans- 
mitting the  estimate  of  costs  prepared  by 
Assistant  Engineer  H.  L.  Ripley  to  Mr.  C.  S. 
Mellen,  President  of  the  New  York,  New  Haven 
&  Hartford  R.  R.,  stated  regarding  tunnelling 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


53 


COMPARISON    OF    CITY    ENGINEER'S    RECENT  ESTIMATE  OF  COST  OF  TUNNEL  FOR 
STREET   CARS   ONLY   FROM   NORTH    MAIN    STREET  TO   THAYER  STREET. 
With  the  cost  of  same  structures  estimated  by  the  Railroad   Engineers. 


LAND  DAMAGES  AND  EASEMENTS. 


Railroad  Esti- 
mate of  Cost, 
1909. 


City  Engineer's 

Estimate  of 

Cost,  1911. 


Arnold  Block  Estate,  Canal  to  North  Main  Streets.  Assessed  190S 
at  $116,640.  Cost  estimated  by  J.  R.  F.,  1911,  including  ex- 
penses @  $179,000  exclusive  of  street  surfacing,  etc 

Not  included 

North  side  Fones  Alley,  1,650  lineal  feet  @  $10 $16,500  00 

North  side  Churchill  House  to  Thayer  Street,  200  lineal  feet  @  $20-  4,000  00 

Easements  107,000  00 

Land    taken 76,000  00 

Legal  and  condemnation  expenses 4,070  00 

Total  land  and  Easements  North  Main  to  Thayer  Streets. $207,570  00 

Land  required  for  surface  uses,  damages  to  buildings  and  land  re- 
quired for  underground  uses,  not  to  exceed 

(Note  the  City  Engineer's  estimate  is  $107,570  less  than  Railroao. 
estimate  for  these  land  damages  between  North  Main  and 
Thayer  Streets.) 

CONSTRUCTION  COSTS,  per  City  Engineer,  1911: 

Arched  section  of  tunnel  1,600  lin.  feet  @  $200 

Rectangular  section  of  tunnel  200  lin.  feet  @  $250 

Approaches  368  lin.  feet  (g>  $66 

Engineering  and  inspection  (10  per  cent,  on  proceedings) 

General  contingencies  (about  5  per  cent.) 

Legal  and  commission  expenses 

Accident   liability 

Interest  during  construction 

Total  expenses  appurtenant  to  construction 

CONSTRUCTION  COSTS,  per  Railroad  Engineers,  1909: 

Tunnel  section,  1,850  lin.  feet  @  $215  per  foot $397,750  00 

East  and  west  approaches  600  lin.  feet  excess  costs 20,000  00 

Extra    expense    Main    Street    to    Benefit    Street    supporting 

buildings,  repairs,  etc 38,000  00 

Extra  excavation  and  concrete,  etc.,  No.  Main  St.  approach  3,725  00 

Extra  excavation  and  concrete,  etc.,  Thayer  St.  approach—  22,815  00 

(Contingencies   and  accident  liability   included   above.) 

$478.565  00 

Engineering  25,000  00 

Grading  1,000  00 

Law,  printing,  interest  and  commission,  insurance 24,200  00 

TOTAL  CONSTRUCTIVE  COST  (which  is  about  $40,000  more  than 

City  Engineer's  estimate  of  1911)  $528,765  00 

Neither  of  the  above  estimates  include  railroad  tracks  or  electric- 
trolley  appurtenances. 

Totals,   including  Arnold  Block   and   appurtenant  expenses, 

at  $200,000 . $936,335  00 


$200,000  00 

Including  removals 
and  street  sur- 
facing. 


$100,000  00 


$320,000  00 
50,000  00 
24,320  00 
39,432  00 
20,000  00 
15,000  00 
5.000  00 
15,000  00 


$488,752  00 


$788,752  00 


Neither  of  the  above  estimates  includes  the  cost  of  taking  the  front  building  of  the  School  of  Design  or 
the  cost  of  taking  the  Carr  house. 

It  is  now  a  matter  of  current  report  that  the  front   building  of  the  School  of  Design  will  have  to  be  taken. 

Note  that  the  Railroad  Engineers  estimated  that  in  this  contingency  about  $100,000,  would  be  added  to  the 
cost  and  that  they  thought  it  probable  that  the  character  of  the  rock  encountered  on  this  location  would  be  worse 
than  that  in  the  adjacent  railroad  tunnel,  still  further  increasing  the  cost. 


54 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


beneath  the  School  of  Design  and  the  Carr  estate, 
"It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  such  construction  is 
practicable  without  great  damage  to  the  building. 
The  annoyance  and  inconvenience  caused  by 
blasting  to  the  occupants  of  the  building  during 
the  construction  period  would  be  extreme  and  it 
is  hardly  probable  that  the  necessity  for  purchas- 
ing the  real  estate  and  building  can  be  escaped," 
and  stated  that  if  this  became  necessary  at  least 
$100,000  should  be  added  to  the  land  damage 
estimates  of  1909.* 

It  was  also  stated  by  the  officials  of  the  Rail- 
road that  there  was  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  cost  of  excavating  this  street  car  tunnel  would 
be  relatively  greater  than  that  incurred  in  build- 
ing the  adjacent  railroad  tunnel,  upon  which  Mr. 
Ripley's  estimates  for  the  street  car  tunnel  costs 
were  based. 

Regarding  this  new  street  car  tunnel,  Vice- 
President  McHenry  said :  "During  the  construc- 
tion of  the  railroad  tunnel,  it  was  found  that  the 
roof  was  uniformly  bad  throughout  and  that  the 
difficulties  increased  as  the  surface  was  ap- 
proached, as  the  rock  becomes  more  rotten  or 
disappears  entirely.  The  City  tunnel,  as  sug- 
gested, is  very  much  nearer  the  surface  than  the 


Railroad  tunnel  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  construction  will  be  correspond- 
ingly more  difficult  under  the  conditions  above 
noted." 

From  my  own  studies  of  the  ground,  I  am  led 
to  believe  that  these  words  of  caution  should  be 
weighed  very  carefully  when  balancing  the  merits 
of  open  street  against  those  of  the  tunnel. 

The  Ripley  estimate  of  tunnel  cost  two  years 
ago,  did  not  include  the  Arnold  Block,  and  the 
estimates  by  the  City  Engineer  in  1909  took  land 
simply  at  its  assessed  valuation  without  attempt- 
ing to  estimate  the  additional  cost  of  acquiring  it 
under  condemnation  proceedings  or  by  forced 
purchase,  nor  did  the  City  Engineer's  figures 
cover  consequential  damages  to  the  remainder  of 
the  property  mutilated. 

It  now  appears  probable  that  the  cost  of  the 
tunnel  for  street  cars  only,  plus  the  cost  of 
acquiring  the  Arnold  Block  property  and  extend- 
ing Waterman  Street  to  Canal  Street,  including 
damages  at  the  School  of  Design  and  the  Carr 
property  would  amount  to  at  least  $1,100,000,  and 
possibly  even  $1,250,000;  as  was  intimated  by 
Vice-President  Buckland. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


55 


COMPARATIVE  MERITS. 

STREET  CAR  TUNNEL  FROM  NORTH  MAIN  STREET 

To  THAYER  STREET 

vs. 

i oo- FOOT    OPEN    STREET    FROM    POST    OFFICE 
SQUARE  To  BROWN  STREET. 

CONCERNING  THE  BEST  FORM  OF  "EAST  SIDE 
APPROACH/' 

Both  of  these  plans,  open  street  and  tunnel, 
contemplate  the  removal  of  the  Arnold  Block 
group  and  building  a  broad  street  in  its  place 
through  from  .North  Main  Street  to  Post  Orrke 
Square. 

The  present  condition  at  the  foot  of  the  steep 
Waterman  Street  hill  is  certainly  bad  and  the 
promise  of  the  removal  of  the  Arnold  Jjlock  and  a 
straight,  broad  street  in  extension  of  Waterman 
Street  in  its  place  is  very  attractive  to  anyone 
who  has  had  the  responsibility  of  guiding  an 
automobile  or  heavy  carriage  down  this  steep 
hill,  and  this  has  doubtless  been  a  great  factor  in 
securing  endorsements  to  the  so-called  Citizens' 
Plan,  which  was  indefinite  in  most  things  except 
the  projecting  of  a  broad  highway  over  the  site 
of  the  Arnold  Block  and  the  building  of  a  street 
car  tunnel  that  would  avoid  the  dangers  and  con- 
gestion of  the  counterweight  system  up  College 
Hill. 

The  undersigned  has  carefully,  and  as  he 
believes,  impartially  reviewed  the  respective 
merits  of  a  tunnel  from  North  Main  Street  to 
Thayer  Street  for  street  cars  only  and  an  open 
street  100  feet  in  width  from  the  river  in  Post 
Office  Square  to  Brown  Street,  for  providing 
ample  passageway  for  street  cars,  vehicles  and 
pedestrians,  and  has  given  due  regard  to  the  time 
required  for  construction,  contingencies,  and  the 
estimated  cost. 

In  brief,  the  comparison  between  "Roger  Wil- 
liams Street"  and  the  tunnel  stands  as  follows : 

(i)  Whichever  plan  is  followed  there  will 
be  no  difference  in  noise  or  congestion  from  street 
cars  on  Angell  Street  and  Waterman  Street,  east 
of  Thayer  Street. 

Near  Thayer  Street  the  tunnel  plan  involves 
the  greater  noise  because  it  compels  every  car 
that  travels  along  Angell  Street  and  Waterman 
Street  to  turn  two  sharp  corners,  with  the 


incidental  squeaking  and  grinding  of  the  wheels, 
as  it  enters  or  leaves  the  Thayer  Street  end  of 
the  tunnel. 

(2)  The  Roger  Williams  Street  viaduct  over 
Canal   and   North   Main    Streets   has   the  great 
advantage  of  separating  the  grades  and  bringing 
the  east  and  west  currents  of  travel  across  infith- 
out  the  delay,  danger  and  confusion  of  mixing 
the  east  side  stream  into   the   cross  stream  of 
North  and  South  bound  motor  trucks  and  wagons 
and  cars  from  North  Main  and  Canal  Streets, 
which  confusion  and  danger  will  greatly  increase 
as  the  city  grows. 

(3)  The  open,  easy-grade  street  provides  a 
v/ay    for    automobiles,    carriages    and    foot   pas- 
sengers and- also  a  better  way  for  street  cars, 
while  the  tunnel  serves  street  cars  only. 

(4)  The   tunnel   plan   leaves   the   Waterman 
Street  hill  steep,  slippery  and  dangerous,  in  wet 
or  icy  weather  or  when  freshly  oiled. 

(5)  The  tunnel  plan  gives  poorer  service  to 
Brown  and  Camp  Street  districts  and  to  all  the 
the  crest  of  College  Hill,  and  cuts  off  all  direct 
street    car   service    to    Benefit   Street,   Prospect 
Street  and  Brozvn  Street  and  all   through   car 
service  from  Brown  Street. 

(6)  The  College  is  much  more  poorly  served 
by  street  cars  from  the  tunnel  ending  at  Thayer 
Street  than  by   the   open   street  and  the  broad 
entrance  from  Brown  Street. 

(7)  The   open   street  plan  provides   a   new, 
easy-grade    route    for    street   cars   and   vehicles, 
branching  north  toward  Pawtucket,  over  Cong- 
don  Street,  giving  a  beautiful  view  of  the  city. 

(8)  The  open   street   plan   in  addition   to  a 
broad  way  for  vehicles,  provides  free,  half    the 
cost  of  a  magnificent  park  development. 

(9)  The  trackage  agreements  and  rentals  for 
the   open  street  can   be  concluded  immediately, 
without  reference  to  extension  of  the  street  rail- 
way franchise,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  present 
session  of  the  Legislature,  the  broad,  open  street 
can  be  completed  and  opened  to  street  car  and 
other  travel  a  year  sooner  than  the  tunnel. 

These  alternatives  of  tunnel  and  broad,  open 
street  should  properly  be  judged  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  present  and  future  greatest  good 
to  the  city  and  citizens  as  a  whole.  It  is  plain, 


56 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


This  isometric  drawing  shows  the  relation  of  the  new  street  to  the  present  buildings. 

These  present  buildings  would  soon  disappear  and  be  replaced  by  modern  office 
'buildings,  harmonizing  with  the  dignity  of  the  civic  center,  and  there  would  be  a  tendency 
for  the  improvement  to  spread  southerly  along  Canal  Street. 

The  area  northerly  from  the  new  broad  street  might  well  be  acquired  immediately 
for  the  future  site  of  a  public  auditorium. 


PLATE   8-A. 


FLOOR  SPECIALLY  DESIGNED  FOR  MAXIMUM  CLEARANCE 

s  of  Bridge  HOOT .  including   paving .  ii   20)  Ft. 
B*«  I*  Concrete  cd'fwtca  wi*i   II  inch  M«l  B€*n»  . -*olb)  .  IB  "i   cl><. 


/  continue,    ««r  lupp.rtl    tt   T*r    n   il    prittiufclt.  P^  |     I I 


HEADROOM    UNDER    30Mt    PROVIDENCE    BRiDotS 

Gasp«e  St-  14'- 5" 

Francis  5T- -  t3'-1l*     Oecfnc  cars   $0   under. 

-i  Canal   5*     -  V-  0"    _, 

No.  Mam  5f-  14 -8      Etectnc  can  «o  under 

t 


iu.t  13  prtttftT  n          T^ 

gr«*t  >t   IOC  Ft  I—1                   I— i 

^«t   from   Ita  L 1 

Poit  Offit«          Lt 10'- O >i* — 


'i    *  Dra>ni   ^O  be  SO  built   ttijt ,  whtntvcr   JtSi 

jradelcould  be   lowered     t  ft  or  2  ft  or 
nCMHy  to  pew  trolley  can 


.  x-  Cl.  0.  Me  on  _HJ  Jh  .Water 


il'-O"  - 


-72  feeV     Total  Width  - 


SOUTH          Cl_CVATlON 


R  CVl  5  C  D        PLAN       OF 


CANAL    STREET     BRIDGE! 

The  sketch  above  is  drawn  accurately  to  scale  and  shows  the  very  ample  provision  made  beneath 
the  viaduct  for  accommodating  the  growing  traffic  of  Canal  Street. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


57 


that  the  tunnel  would  compel  the  taking  of  a  few 
less  homes  than  the  open  street,  that  by  avoiding 
stops  at  Benefit,  Brown  and  Prospect  Streets  it 
might  give  one  minute  less  running  time  from 
Phillipsdale  than  the  straight,  open  street ;  and 
that  to  provide  only  for  street  cars  costs  two- 
thirds  as  much  as  to  provide  for  streets  cars  with 
'  a  broad  carriage  way  and  broad  sidewalks  on  a 
straight,  easy-grade  and  a  beautiful  park  in 
addition. 

THE  VISIONARY  EASTERN   SUBWAY. 

The  suggestion  presented  at  the  public  hearing 
of  April  18,  1911,  and  speciously  held  out  in  the 
so-called  ''Citizens'  Plan,"  that  a  subway  could 
be  constructed  easterly  from  the  end  of  the 
proposed  tunnel  through  the  back  alleys  and  along 
Medway  Street  to  Red  Bridge  is  utterly  vision- 
ary and  impracticable  from  the  financial  stand- 
point. Such  an  extension,  with  its  necessary 
connections  to  receive  surface  cars  at  Thayer 
Street  and  one  point  near  Wayland  Avenue, 
irrespective  of  other  desirable  exits  and  entrances 
would  cost  much  more  than  $1,500,000,  and  this 
extra  expenditure  would  not  add  anything  to  the 
earnings  of  the  Street  Railroad  Co.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  would  lessen  the  number  of  fares  taken 
and  therefore  the  Company  is  not  likely  to  ex- 
pend this  sum  merely  for  the  relief  of  the  nerves 
of  those  who  dwell  upon  Angell  and  Waterman 
Streets. 

Only  three  subway  systems  for  street  car  travel 
have  yet  been  built  on  this  continent,  namely, 
those  of  the  Boston  Metropolitan  District,  the 
Greater  New  York  system,  and  about  two  miles 
in  Philadelphia,  and  no  subway  system  has  yet 
been  built  for  serving  municipal  districts  having 
less  than  one  million  population.  That  subway 
construction  is  enormously  expensive  is  shown 
by  the  table  on  the  following  page.  It  involves 
rebuilding  sewers,  relaying  water  pipes  and  many 
items  of  snecial  expenses  for  supporting  founda- 
tions of  buildings  and  for  the  temporary  main- 
tenance of  access. 

SECOND,  THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  SEPARATING  THE 
GRADE. 

The  following  important  advantages  of  the 
open  street  over  the  subway  are  so  obvious  that 
no  expert  in  engineering  or  transportation  is 
needed  to  demonstrate  them. 


The  "Roger  Williams  Street"  plan  separates 
the  great  and  increasing  stream  of  East  and  West 
traffic  upon  a  different  grade  at  North  Main  and 
Canal  Streets  from  the  great  and  increasing 
stream  of  North  and  South  traffic,  which  stream 
of  traffic  will  grow  as  the  commerce  of  Provi- 
dence grows,  from  freight  yards,  steamboat 
wharves,  suburban  factory  villages.  It  separates 
by  means  of  an  overhead  crossing  which  retains 
the  full  present  width  of  North  Main  Street  and 
at  Canal  Street  presents  a  width  between  curbs 
sufficient  for  six  vehicles  of  the  largest  size  to 
pass  abreast  and  with  head-room  more  than  suffi- 
cient for  the  tallest  express  wagon  or  even  for  a 
large  load  of  unpressed  hay  to  pass  beneath.  (See 
Sheet  No.  8-A  of  drawings  attached.) 

This  matter  of  separation  of  the  grades  at 
these  tii'o  great  and  increasing  streams  of  traffic 
is  of  the  utmost  importance.  The  viaduct  actu- 
ally doubles  the  street  area  at  the  crossing  of 
North  Main  and  Canal  Streets,  beside  lessening 
the  tangle.  The  tunnel  plan  mixes,  confuses  and 
congests  these  streams  of  traffic  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill  and  in  Post  Office  Square  and  compels 
the  pedestrian  down  Waterman  Street,  as  now, 
to  pick  his,  or  her,  way  across  an  increasingly 
dense  stream  of  drays,  farm  wagons,  and  motor 
vehicles,  while  Roger  Williams  viaduct  takes  him 
over  the  head  of  those  in  the  North  and  South 
bound  streams. 

As  the  City  grows,  this  North  and  South 
stream  will  increase  rapidly,  first,  due  to  the 
rapid  development  of  motor  truck  conveyances; 
secondly,  due  to  the  proposed  development  of  a 
great  system  of  freight  transhipment  wharves  by 
the  New  Haven  Railroad,  near  Fox  and  India 
Points. 

The  East  and  West  streams  will  develop  with 
the  industrial  growth  of  East  Providence  and 
from  the  natural  tendency  of  this  increasing  popu- 
lation to  do  its  shopping  in  the  Providence  shop- 
ping district  and  westerly  from  the  Post  Office, 
and  from  the  transit  of  minor  industries,  which 
doubtless  will  more  and  more  be  transferred  to 
the  Phillipsdale  and  Red  Bridge  district  while 
keeping  their  business  offices  near  the  financial 
center.  It  is  important  to  the  present  mercantile 
and  financial  center  of  Providence  that  ease  and 


58 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


The  following  table  compiled  for  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Boston  Street  Railway  system  is  of  interest 
as  illustrating  the  enormous  cost  of  street  railway  tunnels  and  electric  subway  construction.  Note  that  these 
figures  do  not  contain  land  damages. 

APPROXIMATE  COST   PER  LINEAR  FOOT   OF  SOME  OF  THE  VARIOUS  TYPES  OF  TUNNEL 
AND   SUBWAY   CROSS-SECTIONS   SHOWN  IN     BOSTON      TRANSIT     COMMISSION 

ANNUAL  REPORTS. 


B.  T.  C. 
Report 

and 
Plate. 


CttOSS-SECTION. 


Construction 
Method. 


X  7  East  Boston  Tunnel,   Section   B,    (Un-  Roof 

1904  der  Harbor.) Shield 

XVI     3  Beacon   Hill   Tunnel,    Section   1,    Sta-  Roof 

1910        tion!2  +  50 Shield 

XVI     3 Beacon  Hill  Tunnel,  Section  1,  Station!  Open 

1910        2  +  44 J  Cut 

XI  4  Washington  Street  Tunnel,  Section  1, 

1905  Station   6  +  52.5.       Two-track   cross-  Open 
section.  |  Cut 

XI       5  Washington  Street  Tunnel,  Section  2, 

1905        Station  9  +  25.    Two-track  cross-sec-j  Open 

tion j  Cut 

XI       6  Washington  Street  Tunnel,  Section  2, 

1905        Station    10  +  83.          Two-track    and  Open 

Platform  cross-section Cut 

KI      10  Washington  Street  Tunnel,  Section  4, 

1905        Station  21  +  00.       Two-track  cross-  Open 

section.  Cut 

XI      13  Washington  Street  Tunnel,  Section  4,1 

1905        Station    23  +  85.           Two-track    and  Open 

Platform  cross-section-..  Cut 


Cost  per  lin. 
ft.  Includes 
Construction, 
Field  Engi- 
neering and 
Incidentals. 


$272  00 


$263  00 


$280  00 


REMARKS. 


Ground — Blue  clay.     Work  done  in 
compressed  air. 


Ground— Sandy,     clay,     hard 
Work  done  in  free  air. 


pan. 


Small  amount  of  street  bridging. 
Built  mostly  under  and  through 
brick  buildings. 


$332  00 


|Cost  of  new  sewers  shown  on  sec- 
tion included.  Direct  cost  of 
other  pipe  changes  not  included. 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


$480  00 


$615  00 


Ditto.  Ditto. 


$427  00 


Ditto.  Ditto. 


XIII    3  Washington  Street  Tunnel,   Section  7. 
1907        Double  tube,  two-track  and  platform 


Ditto.  Ditto. 


$578  00 


Open 
Cut 


$920  00 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


General  expenses,   administration,   land,   interest  and  other  damages,   interior  finish   and  equipment   and 
office  engineering  are  not  included  in  the  above  figures. 

General  expenses,  administration  and  office  engineering,    add    about    14%    -to    the    total    cost    excluding 
damages  and  interest. 

Compiled    by 
G.    D.    EMERSON, 

May    12,    1911. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


59 


promptness  of  transit  to  and  from  the  outlying 
industrial  districts  be  preserved. 

The  removal  of  car  lines  from  North  Main 
Street  at  the  crossing  of  Waterman  Street,  as 
is  urged  in  connection  with  the  ''Citizens'  Plan" 
for  crossing  here  at  grade,  may  be  very  far  from 
the  best  arrangement  in  the  final  analysis  or  when 
conditions  10  or  20  years  hence  are  considered. 

In  the  best  development  of  the  principle  of 
the  terminal  loop  for  distributing  suburban  traffic 
around  the  civic  center  and  the  commercial 
center,  it  is  quite  likely  that  it  may  prove  best 
to  have  one  track  of  the  broad  loop  continue 
straight  down  North  Main  Street  to  Market 
Square  and  ultimately  to  Crawford  Street,  there 
to  join  with  the  new  street  indicated  on  Plan 
No.  23. 

DISADVANTAGES  OF  TUNNEL  vs.  OPEN  STREET. 

Third,  the  tunnel  plan  improves  nothing  but 
the  street  car  traffic,  by  avoiding  the  delays,  dan- 
gers, and  congestion  of  the  counterweight  system 
on  College  Hill  and  by  permitting  larger  street 
cars  to  be  run  over  Waterman  and  Angell  Streets 
to  Phillipsdale,  Taunton,  etc. 

Fourth,  the  tunnel  plan  does  not  relieve  the 
present  dangerous  condition  on  the  steep  Water- 
man Street  hill,  where  more  than  one  automobile 
has  skidded  and  lost  control  on  the  steep  grade, 
when  wet  or  freshly  oiled,  or  when  covered  with 
ice  or  sleet.  The  opening  afforded  by  removal 
of  the  Arnold  Block  applies  equally  to  both  plans. 

Fifth,  the  tunnel  to  Thayer  Street  practically 
moves  the  population  travelling  by  the  Brown 
Street  cars  to  the  Camp  Street  district,  a  third  of 
a  mile  farther  away  from  the  center  of  the  city, 
by  compelling  them  to  twice  pass  over  the  dis- 
tance between  Brown  Street  and  Thayer  Street, 
and  by  the  swaying,  discomfort,  slowing  down 
and  delay  incident  to  all  of  these  cars,  going  and 
coming,  being  compelled  to  pass  around  two 
additional  right-angle  curves. 

This  doubling  back  also  compels  the  street 
railway  company  to  haul  each  of  its  passengers 
for  the  Brown  Street  line  the  equivalent  of  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  additional  and  introduces 
the  extra  wear  and  tear  on  cars  and  tracks  inci- 
dent to  the  two  extra  curves  at  Thayer  Street. 


The  tunnel  plan  deprives  the  Benefit  Street  dis- 
trict near  the  Supreme  Court  House  and  the 
University  Club  and  that  at  the  top  of  the  hill 
near  the  Prospect  Street  front  of  the  College  and 
Northerly  therefrom,  of  convenient  street  car 
services. 

Transportation  experts  recognize  the  instinc- 
tive dislike  of  passengers  to  make  a  long  detour 
or  to  follow  other  than  a  direct  route  between  two 
points.  Although  passengers  for  the  hill-top  could, 
after  the  removal  of  the  College  Hill  counter- 
weight tracks,  go  through  the  tunnel  to  Thayer 
Street  and  then  take  one  of  the  small  number  of 
cars  that  after  going  through  the  tunnel  would  re- 
verse their  direction  around  the  two  corners  and 
proceed  back  up  Angell  Street  to  the  corner  of 
Brown  Street;  this  detour  would  cause  loss  of 
time  and  would  doubtless  also  have  as  note- 
worthy an  affect  on  the  revenues  of  the  Railroad 
Company  as  upon  the  convenience  or  annoyance 
of  the  public. 

Sixth,  Brown  University  would  be  poorly 
served  by  the  proposed  tunnel  arrangement. 
Passengers  leaving  the  car  at  Thayer  Street  are 
a  long  way  from  the  Administration  Building 
or  from  Sayles  Hall  or  from  the  center  of  the 
campus  and  would  reach  the  college  by  an  undig- 
nified backdoor  entrance,  whereas  under  the 
Roger  Williams  Street  plan  they  are  landed  oppo- 
site the  center  of  the  College  grounds  and  at  a 
dignified  and  convenient  entrance.  The  broaden- 
ing of  Brown  Street  between  Angell  and  Water- 
man Streets,  proposed  in  connection  with  Roger 
Williams  Street,  would  add  to  the  dignity  of  this 
entrance  to  the  College. 

Seventh,  the  Roger  Williams  Street  plan  per- 
mits, at  any  convenient  future  time,  the  branching 
of  a  new  car  line  toward  Pawtucket  and  the  large 
undeveloped  portion  of  Providence  in  the  vicinity 
of  Rochambeau  Avenue,  which  would  be  partic- 
ularly attractive  in  its  course  up  Roger  Williams 
Street  and  along  the  border  of  the  proposed 
Overlook  Park  and  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
present  congested  and  somewhat  dismal  outlook 
along  the  course  up  North  Main  Street  and  Con- 
stitution Hill.  All  of  these  matters  of  agreeable 
surroundings  on  their  daily  pathway  are  material 


60 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


considerations  in  attracting  a  desirable  popula- 
tion to  the  city. 

Eighth,  the  Roger  Williams  Street  plan  works 
hand  in  hand  with  park  development,  and  without 
the  subdivision  of  costs  and  the  economies  ef- 
fected in  excavating  the  street  and  in  building  up 
a  sightly  hillside  in  extension  of  Prospect  Ter- 
race, it  becomes  beyond  hope  that  the  Overlook 
Park  project  can  ever  materialise. 

Ninth,  the  tunnel  plan  tends  to  drive  away 
traffic  and  decrease  street  car  revenues  within 
the  important  area  tributary  between  Main 
Street  and  Thayer  Street,  where  the  broad  open 
street  tends  to  promote  them  and  meanwhile  add 
to  public  convenience. 

Tenth,  the  Roger  Williams  Street  project  can 
probably  be  installed  at  least  a  year  sooner  than 
the  tunnel  project,  and  except  for  whatever  de- 
lays may  be  incident  to  the  securing  of  titles  to 
the  land,  Roger  Williams  Street  could  be  sub- 
stantially complete  and  open  to  traffic  within  the 
coming  year. 

If  the  negotiations  follow  the  lines  of  a  recent 
oral  agreement,  which  it  is  hoped  to  soon  have  in 
written  form,  an  arrangement  with  the  Railroad 
can  be  concluded  immediately  under  which  the 
Street  Railroad  would  pay  to  the  City  of  Provi- 
dence yearly  for  trackage  rights  up  Roger  Wil- 
liams Street  (which  would  permit  them  to  dis- 
pense with  the  expense  of  the  counter-weight 
system  and  permit  also  the  much  needed  increase 
of  car  service  (both  in  size  and  number  of  cars) 
with  the  consequent  increase  of  convenience  to 
citizens  and  increase  of  earnings  to  the  Com- 
pany), a  sum  in  the  form  of  annual  rental  for 
trackage  rights  on  this  portion  of  the  street, 
amounting  to  the  interest  at  4  per  cent,  per  an- 
num on  $750,000;  (possibly  at  the  rate  of  $35,- 
ooo  per  year),  or,  in  other  words,  more  than 
half  the  entire  cost  of  the  project,  including  its 
park  accessories,  would  be  paid  by  the  Street 
Railroad  Company  for  rights  simply  co-exten- 
sive in  time  with  whatever  franchise  may  be 
agreed  upon  during  the  negotiations  of  the  com- 
ing year  between  the  Railroad  and  the  City  in 
connection  with  the  expiration  and  renewal  of 
their  present  franchise. 


This  arrangement  can  be  made  independent  of 
all  questions  and  delays  incident  to  the  discussion 
of  the  street  car  franchise. 

Although  the  Railroad  Company  may  be  wil- 
ling, free  of  all  expense  to  the  City  (except  the 
outlay  estimated  at  $200,00  for  the  removal  of 
the  Arnold  Block),  to  build  the  tunnel  and  own  it, 
just  as  they  would  own  a  car  barn  or  a  power 
house,  it  should  be  remembered  by  the  citizens 
that  this  would  leave  the  Street  Railroad  Com- 
pany the  owners  of  the  most  vital  link  in  street 
railroad  transportation  between  the  center  of  the 
City  and  the  East  Side  and  the  Eastern  suburbs, 
and  one  which  would  in  itself  be  effective  as  a 
perpetual,  exclusive  franchise,  and  with  no  guar- 
antee of  better  relations  in  future  between  the 
corporation  and  the  public. 

It  is  of  present  interest  to  thoughtfully  read 
between  the  lines,  as  well  as  in  the  lines,  of  the 
reports  of  the  negotiations  of  two  years  ago  and 
try  to  see  clearly  just  where  the  views  of  the  two 
sides  diverged.  Now  is  a  good  time  for  study- 
ing out  some  good  plan  for  mutual  confidence 
and  co-operation. 

OVERLOOK  PARK. 

The  accompanying  drawings  (Nos.  19,  20,  21 
and  32)  show  the  possibilities  of  this  park  de- 
velopment so  fully  that  hardly  anything  additional 
need  be  said  except  to  urge  every  citizen  not 
already  familiar  with  the  district  to  take  his 
earliest  opportunity  to  walk  up  Congdon  Street 
to  Prospect  Terrace  and  then  continuue  his  walk 
to  Jenckes  Street,  with  copies  of  these  maps  in 
hand.  He  will  find  here  a  remarkable  opportun- 
ity for  a  park  which  cannot  be  financed  without 
the  aid  of  Roger  Williams  Street. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  cost  of  Roger  Williams 
Street  has  been  made  to  carry  the  estimated  cost 
of  acquiring  all  of  the  land  needed  for  this  park 
south  of  Bowen  Street  and  extending  westerly 
to  a  line  which  approximately  follows  the  back 
line  of  the  lots  on  the  Northerly  side  of  Benefit 
Street.  This  area  would  all  be  graded  out  to  the 
westward  for  a  width  of  nearly  200  feet  on  the 
top,  to  a  line  averaging  nearly  as  great  as  the 
present  elevation  of  Prospect  Terrace  and  would 
be  given  the  steepest  practicable  slope  on  the 
western  face  in  order  to  obtain  the  benefit  of  the 


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62 


VIEW  FROM  SITE:  OF  'OVERLOOK  PARK' 

A  sen«  oi  six    consecutive   pnotojrapba    covering   more  than  22.0   decrees  of   the    horizon 
overlooking  three   quarters  of  Ihe  buildings  of   Providence   and  parts   of  the   adjoining     Towns. 


In  order  to  fully  appreciate  the  wonderful  possibilities  of   ''Overlook   Park*'   one   should  visit   Prospect 
Terrace  on  a  clear  morning  and  extend  'his  walk  Northerly  along  Congdon  Street  as  far  as  Jenckes  Street. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


63 


broadest  possible  park  at  the  bight  level.  I  have 
suggested,  however,  that  a  portion  of  this  area 
be  shaped  up  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre  as 
indicated. 

Although  it  is  not  beyond  the  bounds  of  hope 
that  some  public-spirited  citizen  or  someone  desir- 
ous of  leaving  a  worthy  memorial  would  in  course 
of  time  supply  the  concrete  structure,  we  really 
need  not  wait,  for  the  City  itself  could  well  af- 
ford to  meet  the  small  cost  of  an  open-air  audi- 
torium of  this  kind  in  the  center  of  the  city,  close 
to  the  main  lines  of  transportation. 

Providence  could  learn  much  from  Denver  or 
Minneapolis  in  this  matter  of  making  the  city  a 
pleasanter  place  for  every  citizen  to  live  in. 

AN  OPEN  AIR  AUDITORIUM. 

This  as  drawn  on  sheet  No.  20  and  as  shown 
more  distinctly  in  connection  with  the  problem 
of  park  development  upon  sheet  No.  32,  is  drawn 
to  scale  from  measurements  of  the  Greek  Theatre 
at  the  University  of  California,  which  in  acoustic 
properties  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  audi- 
toriums in  the  world. 

When  the  writer  was  inspecting-  it  some  years 
ago  under  the  guidance  of  President  Wheeler, 
and  testing  its  acoustic  properties,  he  asked 
whether  their  perfection  was  the  result  of  acci- 
dent or  design.  President  Wheeler  replied,  "We 
simply  copied  with  all  practicable  accuracy  the 
shape  of  the  most  noted  theatre  in  ancient  Greece 
and  this  is  the  result." 

This  auditorium  has  seats  for  8,000  people  and 
by  filling  the  aisles  and  the  central  space  is 
reputed  to  hold  an  attendance  "of  a%out  9,000.  It 
i"  built  mainly  of  Portland  cement  concrete  and 
thus  is  at  once  fire-proof  and  practically  proof 
against  ordinary  deterioration  or  need  of  repairs. 

'It  serves  for  public  concerts  and  lectures  as 
well  as  for  one  of  the  chief  centers  of  social 
interest  for  the  university  and  the  city.  Its 
cost  is  reported  to  have  been  $42,000.  Up  to  the 
present  time,  for  reasons  of  cost,  the  architect's 
complete  design  has  not  been  carried  out,  the 
photograph  on  the  following'  page  therefore 
differs  from  the  perspective  drawing. 

In  the  design  of  a  Greek  Theatre  for  Overlook 
Park  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  possi- 
bility of  sudden  summer  showers  and  provision 


made  for  a  surrounding  narrow  strip  of  concrete 
roofing  which  would  shelter  a  crowd  of  several 
thousand  persons  while  they  were  .waiting  for  car 
service  on  the  neighboring  street.  By  planting 
the  steep  hill  slope  back  of  the  stage  with  quick- 
growing  evergreens,  white  pine,  for  example, 
something  of  the  nature  of  a  sound  screen  could 
be  developed  in  a  way  that  would  also  add  to  the 
landscape  effect. 

My  pencil  sketches  of  the  details  of  this  struc- 
ture were  carried  merely  far  enough  to  demon- 
strate the  practicability  of  the  constructive 
features  and  it  has  not  seemed  worth  while  at 
present  to  draw  them  up  in  ink  for  reproduction. 

Public  band  concerts  for  some  years  past  have 
been  maintained  on  the  West  side  of  the  city, 
at  Roger  Williams  Park,  and  have  proved  very 
popular,  but  necessitate  a  long,  crowded  and 
uncomfortable  street  car  journey  for  residents 
of  the  eastern  and  central  portions  of  the  city. 
Roger  Williams  Park,  beautiful  and  spacious  as 
it  is,  should  not  be  the  only  center  for  recreation, 
or  educational  collections  of  stuffed  birds,  min- 
erals, weather  observation  instruments,  popular 
telescopes,  etc. 

By  the  time  a  father  or  mother  of  scanty  means 
has  paid  car  fares  for  children  and  self  back  and 
forth  to  a  concert  at  Roger  Williams  Park  and 
although  weary  with  the  day's  work  has  had  to 
stand  during  much  of  the  evening  and  had  to 
crowd  for  a  place  on  the  homeward  bound  car, 
the  day's  burdens  have  not  been  lightened  as  they 
might  be  here.  And  on  a  summer  Sunday  after- 
noon or  mid-week  evening,  how  can  the  city  min- 
ister more  to  the  pleasure  and  culture  of  its  peo- 
ple and  cultivate  their  civic  pride  than  by  free 
public  concerts  of  the  kind  that  the  city  of  Den- 
ver gives? 

The  writer  has  been  much  impressed  with  the 
pains  taken  in  many  of  the  chief  European  cities, 
even  those  no  larger  than  Copenhagen  and  Chris- 
tiania,  to  provide  the  public  with  convenient 
places  of  entertainment  not  far  from  the  civic 
center  and  available  to  the  central  mass  of  popu- 
lation without  long  street  car  rides. 

This  hill  crest  would  receive  the  benefit  of  the 
southwesterly  wind  following  up  the  bay  and 
prove  a  very  acceptable  location  for  a  summer 


65 


The   Greek    Theater   or   open-air   Auditorium    of   the   University  of  California. 

From  the  architect's  perspective  drawing,   showing  the    completed  structure.     For  reasons  of  economy,  the  exterior 
collonade  'has   not  yet  been  built  and  the  present  condition     of  the  structure  is  shown  by  the  view  below. 


A  portion  of  an  audience  of  8,000  in  the  Greek  Theatre,  listening  to  Col.  Roosevelt. 


66 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


The   Municipal  Auditorium,   Denver,   Colorado. 


A  free  public  concert  in  the  Denver  Auditorium.        Mme.    Schuman-Heinck,    singing    to    an    audience, 
estimated  at  14,000. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


67 


evening  concert  and  the  superior  acoustic  prop- 
erties and  comfort  of  the  stage  and  auditorium 
would  permit  orchestral  music  and  other  types  of 
entertainment  as  well. 

RELATION  OF  SITE  FOR  A  CITY  AUDITORIUM  TO 
THE  NEW  STREET. 

Hundreds  of  citizens  have  been  impressed  with 
the  need  of  a  better  indoor  auditorium  than  any 
now  available  in  Providence.  Several  of  our 
New  England  cities,  Lawrence  for  example,  have 
large  public  halls,  owned  by  the  municipality, 
which  are  centers  of  ministering  to  the  popular 
intellectual  life  of  the  city,  particularly  in  the 
winter  season,  by  means  of  orchestral  concerts, 
choral  festivities,  stereopticon  lectures  on  travel 
and  scientific  topics,  etc., for  all  of  which  good 
auditory  qualities  and  a  seating  plan  with  sloping 
floors  and  a  good  outlook  toward  the  stage  are 
fundamental  needs. 

It  is  an  impossibility  to  combine,  as  at  present 
attempted  in  Infantry  Hall,  a  proper  housing 
for  grand  balls,  fairs,  symphony  concerts,  lec- 
tures and  political  conventions. 

Denver  has  apparently  solved  the  problem 
better  than  any  of  our  other  cities,  by  a  building 
owned  by  the  municipality,  occupied  each  Sunday 
afternoon  for  a  free  orchestral  concert  of  care- 
fully selected  music,  commonly  attended  by  about 
twelve  thousand  persons,  which  doubtless  brings 
a  greater  amount  of  uplifting  pleasure  into  the 
lives  of  the  working  people  than  any  other  form 
of  entertainment  that  could  be  devised,  and  illus- 
trates a  wise  type  of  socialism  which  the  munici- 
pality could  be  justified  in  paying  for,  even  on 
the  narrow  ground  of  making  the  city  a  better 
labor  market. 

The  problem  in  Providence  is  somewhat  dif- 
ferent from  that  in  Denver  and  would  require 
a  somewhat  different  type  of  building,  but  it 
should  be  primarily  a  fire-proof  auditorium  with 
the  capacity  for  seating  comfortably  say  at  least 
five  thousand  people. 

The  Denver  auditorium  is  ingeniously  devised 
with  movable  partition  by  which  in  a  few  hours 
time,  it  can  be  transformed  from  a  vast  auditor- 
ium to  a  theater  of  moderate  size. 

In  Denver's  case  the  leasing  for  entertainments 
for  which  an  admission  fee  is  charged,  serves  to 


defray  a  large  part  of  the  maintenance  and  in- 
terest charges  and  in  addition  the  great  mass  of 
citizens  have  their  civic  pride  quickened  by  the 
possession  of  such  a  building-  and  the  high  quality 
of  the  public  entertainments,  which  are  free 
to  all. 

The  location  of  a  municipal  auditorium  may 
properly  be  considered  in  any  comprehensive 
study  for  street  development  and  obviously  it 
should  form  a  part  of  the  setting  of  the  civic 
center  and  be  as  near  as  possible  to  the  point  of 
convergence  of  the  main  radial  arteries  of  travel. 

Considering  land  values  and  locations  in  rela- 
tion to  transportation  and  also  considering  the 
desirability  of  proximity  to  the  steam  railroad  as 
adding  to  the  facility  with  which  the  artists,  in 
attractions  of  which  the  Boston  Symphony  Con- 
certs is  an  example,  can  return  to  Boston  or 
proceed  elsewhere  after  an  entertainment,  I  have 
been  able  to  find  no  better  location  for  a  city 
auditorium  than  that  immediately  North  of  the 
Arnold  Block.  This  could  be  increased  in  width 
northerly  by  the  acquisition  of  the  narrow  strip 
of  building  lots  next  to  the  railroad  and  a  slight 
shifting  of  the  location  of  Steeple  Street  north- 
erly, and  it  was  this  purpose  that  the  writer  had 
in  mind  in  making  the  suggestion  contained  in 
his  preliminary  report  of  April  10,  1911,  that 
this  land  be  purchased  along  with  the  Arnold 
Block. 

The  writer  believes  that  the  taxpayers  and 
other  residents  of  the  city  would  be  benefited 
should  this  parcel  of  land  be  immediately 
acquired,  and  plans  for  an  auditorium  upon  it 
worked  up  at  an  early  date  in  connection  with 
the  great  problems  of  radial  streets,  street  car 
travel  and  the  civic  center.  The  parcel  of  land 
just  north  of  Steeple  Street  should  be  purchased 
at  the  same  time  and  the  street  location  shifted 
so  as  to  increase  the  width  of  the  "Auditorium 
lot." 

A  TUNNEL  FOR  VEHICLES. 
It  has  frequently  been  suggested  that  the 
tunnel  on  the  location  now  proposed  for  street 
cars,  between  North  Main  Street  and  Thayer 
Street  or  anywhere  in  that  vicinity,  even  as  fai 
south  as  College  Street  and  beneath  the  college 
grounds,  might  be  made  of  a  width  sufficient  to 


68 


69 


70 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


accommodate  both  street  cars  and  vehicular 
traffic,  and  several  have  cited  the  tunnel  under 
the  yuinnal  Hill  at  Rome,  Italy,  as  an  example 
of  such  a  structure. 

The  writer  has  carefully  inspected  the  yuinnal 
Tunnel  at  Rome  and  also  has  often  been  through 
a  similar  tunnel  for  carrying  street  traffic  beneath 
a  hill  at  Los  Angeles,  California,  and  tindj  them 
somewhat  dismal  and  musty-smelling  places  in 
spite  of  abundant  artificial  light  and  the  applica- 
tion of  the  best  engineering  and  architectural 
skill.  The  urine  and  droppings  of  horses  and 
dogs  are  certain  in  course  of  time  to  develop 
persistent  odors,  and  the  absence  of  the  natural 
sanitation  by  heavy  rainfall  or  sunshine  becomes 
more  noticeable  as  the  years  go  on.  Such  a 
structure,  moreover,  is  enormously  expensive  in 
comparison  with  the  open  cut  of  Roger  Williams 
Street  and  would  be  particularly  expensive  for 
supporting  so  broad  an  expanse  of  arched  roof 
in  the  crushed  and  slippery  geological  formation 
found  in  College  Hill. 

Some  idea  of  what  such  a  tunnel  is  like  can  be 
obtained  by  a  walk  from  the  Providence  City 
Hall  to  the  Rhode  Island  State  House  under- 
neath the  railroad  tracks,  altho  this  particular 
tunnel  lacks  the  architectural  setting  and  finish 
of  that  under  the  Quirinal. 

RADIAL  STREETS. 

The  value  of  radial  avenues,  so  well  shown 
by  Major  L'Enfant  and  Baron  Haussman  in 
their  works  of  years  ago  in  great  capitals,  has 
in  recent  years  come  to  be  appreciated  as  one 
of  the  first  principles  of  modern  city  planning 
and  is  no  less  useful  in  smaller  communities,  in 
order-  to  meet  the  ever-increasing  demand  for 
economy  in  time  and  transportation. 

The  West  Side  of  Providence  is  wonderfully 
well  equipped  with  these  radial  avenues  leading 
to  and  from  the  business  center  and  the  civic 
center,  but  the  East  Side  is  woefully  deficient, 
because  of  the  natural  barrier  of  the  hill. 

The  two  maps,  18  and  19,  have  been  traced 
from  the  City  Atlas  to  bring  out  this  feature. 
No.  18  shows  the  present  conditions. 

Note  how  the  city  has  spread  to  the  Westward, 
North  and  South,  not  only  to  centers  of  industry 
but  to  residential  districts  as  well,  occupied 


largely  as  homes  of  those  who  come  to  the  center 
lor  their  day's  work,  and  note  how  scant  the 
corresponding  growth  has  been  to  the  Eastward. 

On  No.  19,  there  have  been  added  lines  to 
show  how  two  new  radial  lines  of  travel,  one  to 
the  Northwest,  another  to  the  Southeast,  would 
aid  all  concerned,  by  relieving  the  overcrowded 
and  unattractive  lines  of  travel  up  North  Main 
Street  and  down  South  Main  Street,  in  addition 
to  the  better  flow  of  travel  afforded  over  the  hill 
by  the  proposed  Roger  Williams  Street. 

If  we  can  save  time  and  add  pleasure  in  street 
car  travel  and  in  effect  bring  the  suburb  nearer  to 
the  center  or  the  home  nearer  to  the  workroom, 
we  are  all  the  time  adding  to  the  pre-eminent 
attraction  of  Providence  as  the  home  of  the  high- 
grade  artisan,  the  skilled  toolmaker,  the  artist- 
jeweler,  the  designer  of  special  fabrics,  and  help- 
ing to  give  its  growth  a  character,  distinctive 
from  that  of  factory  cities  founded  on  the  basis 
of  cheapness  in  yardage  and  tonnage. 

AN  EASTERN  BOULEVARD  vs.  A  SUBWAY. 

So  much  stress  has  been  laid  on  the  idea  that 
if  a  tunnel  were  built  up  Fones  Alley  to  Thayer 
Street,  this  could  be  extended  in  the  form  of  a 
subway  for  street  cars  to  Red  Bridge  along  Fones 
Alley  and  Medway  Street,  that  it  has  seemed  to 
me  worth  while  to  present  here  a  parallel  plan 
and  to  take  space  to  go  into  details  as  to  the 
feasibility  and  comparative  cost  of  building  a 
broad  avenue  from  Brown  Street  easterly  to  Red 
Bridge  by  widening  Angell  Street. 

It  has  been  found  by  carefully  going  over  the 
ground  and  by  studying  the  assessors'  maps  and 
valuations  that  the  probable  cost  of  an  avenue 
extending  easterly  from  Brown  Street  to  Red 
Bridge  and  the  River  Road  along  the  Seekonk 
basin,  160  feet  in  width,  comparable  with  the 
Blackstone  Boulevard  (which  is  200  feet  in 
width),  would  cost  nearly  half  a  million  dollars 
less  than  the  proposed  subway  for  street  cars, 
and  would  provide  for  all  vehicular  traffic  and 
broad  areas  for  trees  and  grass  besides.  The 
estimates  give  $1,787,000  for  the  cost  of  extend- 
ing the  subway  and  $1,351,000  for  the  cost  of 
extending  the  boulevard  and,  the  contingencies  on 
tunnels  and  subways  are  vastly  greater  than  in 
surface  work. 


71 


72 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


The  above  shows  the  type  of  main  eastern  thoroughfare  proposed  to  be  built  on  the  lines  shown 
in  Sheet  30,  on  the  previous  page  at  some  future  time. 

Rapid  progress  for  the  street  cars  is  helped  by  a  low  curbstone  separating  their  tracks  from  the 
carriage  road,  as  on  Huntington  avenue.  Boston. 

The  broad  strip  of  greensward  and  shrubbery  and  the  double  row  of  trees  lessen  the  disturb- 
ance by  the  traffic  to  the  residents  in  the  adjacent  houses. 


Huntington  avenue,  Boston,  Mass.,  carrying  a  very  heavy  suburban  traffic  on  substantially  the 
same  width  of  carriage  way  between  curbs,  that  is  proposed  for  Roger  Williams  street  and  its  future 
extension,  and  also  proposed  for  the  Boston  Road  and  Bristol  Road. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  all  of  this  traffic  passes  closer  to  Trinity  Church,  than  Roger 
Williams  street  does  to  the  First  Baptist  Meeting  House,  and  that  Trinity  Church  continues  useful. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


73 


While  the  writer  has  no  expectation  that  such 
a  street  will  be  built  for  many  years  to  come,  it 
certainly  is  more  within  the  range  of  possibility 
than  the  suggested  subway,  and  is  more  attractive 
because  it  would  beautify  the  city,  would  provide 
amply  for  both  vehicular  traffic  and  street  cars, 
could  relieve  narrow  Waterman  Street  entirely 
from  street  cars  and  could  afford  so  generous  a 
width  of  grass  plat  and  shrubbery  on  both  sides 
between  the  travelled  way  and  the  sidewalks, 
that  a  very  heavy  and  rapid-moving  suburban 
street  car  traffic  could  be  accommodated  with 
little  detriment  to  the  residences — and  it  would 
not  lessen  street  car  receipts. 

At  one  point  only,  near  the  Congregational 
Church,  does  it  appear  impracticable  to  obtain  the 
width  desirable  for  such  a  main  artery  of  traffic ; 
at  other  points,  in  the  vicinity  of  Olive  Street, 
even  a  greater  width  could  be  obtained  and 
parked,  giving,  for  this  space,  a  width  even 
greater  than  the  Blackstone  Boulevard,  but  either 
of  these  projects,  Eastern  Boulevard  or  Eastern 
Subway,  is  so  far  off  that  we  need  not  linger  to 
discuss  the  details  further,  save  to  remark  that  if 
sometime  public  sentiment  becomes  aroused  to 
devoting  the  •  Dexter  Asylum  grounds  to  the 
higher  public  use  of  a  park  instead  of  a  poor 
farm,  removing  the  poor  farm  to  surroundings 
better  adapted  for  its  needs  than  those  which  the 
growth  of  eighty  years  has  brought  around  the 
present  site,  such  a  boulevard  precisely  on  the 
lines  that  I  have  laid  out  for  "Roger  Williams 
Street"  would  serve  well  for  connecting  this  park 
with  the  civic  center  and  the  city  would  be  pro- 
vided with  a  remarkably  dignified  and  beautiful 
entrance  from  the  East. 

I  present  this  plan  No.  30,  and  the  estimate  of 
the  cost  of  an  Eastern  Boulevard  at  the  risk  of 
being  regarded  as  hopelessly  visionary,  and  I 
venture  to  present  it  now  only  because  of  the 
prominence  given  to  the  Red  Bridge  Subway, 
which  would  cost  much  more  and  promises  far 
less,  and  which  subway  is  utterly  without  suffi- 
cient financial  basis  to  warrant  the  hope  that 
either  the  street  railroad  or  the  city  will  ever 
build  it. 


FURTHER  NOTES  CONCERNING  THE  BRISTOL  ROAD. 

Un  pages  47  and  51,  reference  has  already  been 
made  to  the  new  street  beginning  just  south  of 
Crawford  Street  bridge,  which  is  shown  on 
Sheet  No.  18  of  the  drawings,  but  more  plainly 
on  Sheet  No.  19,  and  is  presented  in  detail  on 
Sheets  23  to  28,  inclusive. 

Following  the  course  of  this  projected  street 
by  the  aid  of  Sheets  23  to  26  of  the  drawings, 
it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  concrete  bridge  and 
viaduct  with  which  it  starts  is  a  full  100  feet  in 
width,  and  that  the  road  continues  of  this  width 
for  its  entire  length,  with  nowhere  less  than  about 
f>8  feet  to  70  feet  of  width  between  curbs,  for 
accommodating  vehicles  and  a  double  line  of 
street  cars. 

This  requires  a  widening  on  the  southerly  side 
of  Crawford  Street,  bridging  over  South  Water 
and  South  Main  Streets  and  proceeding  up  the 
hill  on  a  grade  of  seven  per  cent.  The  projected 
street  passes  between  Infantry  Hall  and  the 
Providence  Institution  for  Savings,  bringing  the 
beautiful  architectural  features  of  the  latter 
prominently  into  view  and  providing  a  much 
better  and  safer  public  entrance  than  the  present 
one,  to  the  main  floor  level  of  Infantry  Hall; 
which  will  doubtless  remain  for  many  years  to 
come,  the  chief  public  hall  for  certain  classes  of 
gatherings. 

Crossing  Benefit  Street  very  nearly  at  its  pres- 
ent grade,  the  line  of  the  Bristol  Road  continues 
toward  the  corner  of  the  college  grounds  in  order 
to  give  the  University  its  proper  setting  as  one  of 
the  chief  glories  of  the  city ;  thence  by  a  curve  of 
broad  radius  it  proceeds  in  the  straightest  pos- 
sible line  toward  the  New  Barrington  Boulevard, 
having  due  regard  to  the  character  of  all  of  the 
important  buildings  along  the  route. 

It  will  be  noted  that  it  passes  by  the  Ann  Mary 
Brown  Memorial  in  a  way  to  make  this  an  inter- 
esting architectural  feature  of  the  route. 

At  the  Hope  Club  the  proposed  location  leaves 
the  original  building  undisturbed  but  compels 
moving  the  newly  built  annex  bodily  about  forty 
or  fifty  feet  in  a  southerly  direction,  leaving  the 
floor  area  and  the  cubical  contents  of  the  main 
buildings  unimpaired  and  giving  to  the  club  an 


74 


F.xr.iN'iCER's  FINAL  RKITIRT. 


LOOKING     SOUTH  EASTERLY    FROM    ROOF   OF   THAYER   STREET  SCHOOL 
SHOWING    LOCATION  OF   PROPOSED   STREET  TO   SOUTHEAST 


I 


On  walking  over  the  line  of  this  proposed  boulevard  it  is  of  interest  to  note  how  few  buildings 
would  have  to  be  removed  to  give  space  for  it.  A  surprisingly  large  amount  of  residential  land  in  this 
region  is  still  vacant,  near  the  business  center,  285  years  after  the  founding  of  the  city. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


75 


excellent  outlook  along  the  new  boulevard  and 
toward  the  University  grounds. 

Thence  the  Bristol  Road  runs  straight  until  a 
slight  deflection  and  curve  is  necessitated  near 
the  intersection  of  Hope  Street,  by  reason  of  St. 
Joseph's  Parsonage  and  Church,  and  the  Cleary 
Grammar  School. 

Thence,  it  follows  along  Hope  Street  lor  two 
blocks,  thus  bringing  it  into  suitable  relation  with 
our  street  of  most  beautiful  residences  and  then 
cuts  across  lots  to  the  corner  of  Tockwotton  Park 
and  proceeding  on  a  straight  line  over  the  viaduct 
narrowed  to  eighty  feet  in  width,  it  passes  over 
the  freight  yards  and  railroad  tracks  with  ample 
head  room  beneath,  and  crossing  the  river  by  a 
new  drawbridge  to  a  point  close  to  Fort  Hill, 
reaches  the  high  level  of  the  new  Barrington 
Turnpike  parkway  by  a  very  easy  grade. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  the  admirable  manner 
in  which  such  an  avenue  would  connect  with  the 
network  of  cross-streets  and  on  walking  over  the 
line  one  is  surprised  to  find  a  relatively  large  pro- 
portion of  all  the  land  included  within  the  aline- 
nient  of  the  proposed  new  street,  although  loca- 
ted within  three-quarters  of  a  mile  of  the  center, 
is  still  unoccupied,  285  years  after  the  founding 
of  the  city. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  such  an  avenue 
would  add  greatly  to  the  value  of  real  estate  in 
the  sparsely  settled  district  between  Thayer  and 
Hope  Streets,  in  the  vicinity  of  Benevolent, 
Charles  Field  and  Power  Streets. 

The  proposed  width  of  one  hundred  feet  is 
ample  to  admit  of  eight  feet  for  parking  with 
shrubbery  and  green-sward  between  the  curb  and 
the  sidewalk  and,  as  the  writer  has  stated  else- 
where in  this  report  with  reference  to  a  possible 
future  broad  avenue  between  Red  Bridge  and 
the  head  of  Roger  Williams  Street,  it  is  believed 
that  the  creation  of  a  broad,  direct  highway  of 
this  character,  with  an  ample  width  between 
curbs,  tends  to  collect  the  through  traffic  into 
itself  and  thereby  tends  to  preserve  or  increase 
the  quiet  of  the  adjacent  streets. 

A  chief  feature  in  accomplishing  this  result  is 
the  providing  of  a  width  of  seventy  feet  between 
curbs  for  the  purpose  already  explained,  of 
giving  ample  width  on  either  side  of  a  double  car 


track  for  a  rapid-moving  vehicle  to  pass  a  slow- 
moving  vehicle  and  a  third  vehicle  stopped  at  the 
curb.  The  oblique  character  of  the  intersections 
as  well  as  the  great  width  of  the  street  would 
permit  a  very  rapid  flow  of  motor  car  traffic  with 
a  minimum  danger  of  collision  with  vehicles 
coming  from  the  cross-streets. 

Crawford  Street  Tide  Gates. 

An  explanation  has  been  asked  of  certain  notes 
about  Stoney  gates  on  my  outline  design  for  the  bridge 
near  Crawford  Street,  Sheet  27.  Sometime  in  the 
future  the  street  developments  will  doubtless  require 
covering  the  river  all  the  way  from  Exchange  Place 
to  Crawford  Street,  and  because  the  problems  of 
sludge  and  bad  odors  naturally  fall  in  with  bridging 
the  river  at  the  harbor  head,  I  have  indicated  beneath 
the  concrete  arches  of  the  proposed  Easy-Grade  street 
and  viaduct,  certain  additional  partition  walls  and 
gates  for  controlling  the  discharge  of  the  fresh  water 
of  the  river  into  the  salt  water  at  the  head  of  the 
bay.  I  was  prompted  'to  put  on  file  a  suggestion  for 
study  along  these  lines  by  reason  of  extended  studies 
made  under  my  direction  in  1903  as  Chief  Engineer 
to  the  Committee  on  the  Charles  River  Dam,  Boston, 
in  connection  with  changing  the  'tidal  estuary  of  the 
Charles  into  a  fresh  water  lake,  and  because  of  certain 
later  studies  made  while  I  was  acting  as  Consulting 
Engineer  to  the  Massachusetts  Metropolitan  Park 
Commission  and  designing  tide  gates  for  controlling  the 
outlet  of  the  Mystic  River  and  improving  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  Fresh  Pond  marshes. 

In  the  course  of  those  studies  it  was  proved 
that  when  polluted  fresh  water  is  discharged  inlo 
salt  water  a  flocculation  and  precipitation  of  sludge 
takes  place  as  a  result  of  the  mixture  and  that  putre- 
faction of  organic  material  in  this  sludge  follows  by 
reason  of  the  stratification  between  the  heavier  salt 
water  and  the  lighter  fresh  water,  which  prevents 
vertical  circulation  and  aeration. 

The  offensive  condition  at  the  head  of  Providence 
River  between  Crawford  Street  Bridge,  which  occurs 
in  hot  weather,  and  the  large  deposit  of  pu'trescible 
sludge  that  is  continually  taking  place  in  the  river 
for  a  thousand  feet  upstream  from  this  bridge  (which 
sludge  we  have  seen  during  the  past  few  months  being 
pumped  and  dredged  out  at  an  expense  of  about  sixty 
thousand  dollars),  results  chiefly  from  the  mixing  of 
the  salt  water  of  the  harbor  with  the  polluted  fresh 
waters  of  the  Moshassuck  and  the  Woonasquatucket 
Rivers.  These  waters  will  always  carry  a  relatively 
large  amount  of  pollution  because  of  the  street  gutter- 
wash  that  they  receive  and  the  drainage  into  them,  from 
factory  yards.  Therefore,  in  a  tentative  way,  1  venture 
to  suggest  that  there  be  placed  beneath  the  new  bridge, 
gates  of  the  Stoney  type,  or  other  easily-amoved  gates, 
which  could  be  opened  quickly  in  great  floods  but  would 
normally  be  kept  so  nearly  closed  that  the  level  of 
the  fresh  water  would  be  maintained  about  one  foot 
above  mean  high  tide. 

At  somewhere  near  the  low  level  of  the  night  ebb, 
at  any  time  between  nine  p.  in.  and  five  a.  m..  a  single 
one  of  the  four  (or  six)  sluice  gates  would  be  suddenly 
opened  wide,  thereby  creating  for  a  brief  period  a 
rapid  current  that  would  scour  the  sediment  from  that 
special  channel  leading  to  this  particular  gate.  The 


76 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


next  night,  another  gate  would  be  opened  and  another 
channel  flushed  out,  and  on  the  following  night  still 
another,  thus  scouring  each  in  turn. 

The  partition  walls  supporting  the  several  channels 
would  probably  have  to  extend  upstream  nearly  to 
the  Railroad,  but  could  be  cheaply  built  of  concrete 
and  supported  from  'tipping  over  by  occasional  lengths 
of  steel  piling  driven  vertically  into  the  river  bed. 
By  making  these  partition  walls  a  little  heavier,  they 
would  furnish  a  convenient  support  for  the  reinforced 
concrete  bridge  with  which  all  the  open  areas  from 
Crawford  Street  to  the  Railroad  should  sometime  be 
covered. 

The  deposit  in  this  fresh  water  pool  probably  would 
be  far  less  than  in  the  present  channel  filled  with 
mingled  salt  and  fresh  water  and  under  a  proper 
sanitary  control  of  the  river  above  it  need  present 
no  worse  appearance  than  does  the  slack  water  stream 
which  flows  through  the  park  near  the  center  of  Hart- 
ford, Conn. 

Sludge  would  collect  just  below  the  Crawford  Street 
bridge  in  a  deep  pocket  that  could  be  dredged  to 
receive  it,  and  could  at  rare  intervals  be  dredged  out 
from  this  pocket  just  as  it  is  being  dredged  to-day, 
by  means  of  a  dipper  dredge  or  in  a  more  odorless 
manner,  by  a  suction  tank  dredge.  The  water  at  the 
head  of  navigation  would  be  no  more  unsightly  or 
odoriferous  than  to-day  and  upstream  from  Crawford 
Street,  past  the  civic  center,  it  would  cease  to  be  a 
nuisance  in  hot  weather  and  in  time  of  drought. 

This  problem  requires  much  additional  study  as  to 
details,  and  the  above  is  put  on  record  here  simply 
as  a  suggestion  for  a  line  of  study. 

A  WATER  PARK. 

Particular  attention  is  called  to  the  proposed 
public  boat  landing  shown  on  Sheet  No.  19, 
besides  the  words  "Water  Park."  The  precise 
position  of  this  might  have  to  be  slightly  changed 
in  connection  with  the  new  harbor  lines  needed 
for  a  possible  vast  extension  of  the  wharves  in 
this  vicinity,  but  a  reservation  a  thousand  feet  in 
length  along  the  river,  title  to  which  would  for- 
ever be  held  by  the  municipality,  should  be  care- 
fully established  and  maintained  as  a  landing  for 
pleasure  boats,  with  a  narrow  strip  of  parking 
between  the  viaduct  and  the  water.  Beneath  the 
arches  or  panels  of  the  adjoining  viaduct,  space 
could  be  found  for  the  service  buildings  appro- 
priate to  a  water  park. 

This  public  landing  available  both  to  East 
Providence  and  to  the  whole  East  Side  of  Provi- 
dence proper,  would  add  greatly  to  the  attractive 
qualities  of  this  entire  district  and  make  it  easy 
in  summer  for  the  stay-at-homes  to  get  an  even- 
ing or  week-end  outing  on  the  river  in  small 
boats. 


SOME   FRANCHISE   CONSIDERATIONS. 

Since  a  franchise  for  tracks  on  Roger  Williams 
Street  can  be  made  to  pay  half  the  cost  oi  that 
improvement,  including  park-like  borders  and  a 
5-acre  park,  with  benefit  to  all  concerned,  and 
since  Denver  is  on  the  point  of  obtaining  $50,000 
for  a  new  pipe  organ  for  its  auditorium  out  of 
trackage  rights,  and  a  yearly  sum  of  $50,000 
additional  for  its  civic  center  development  from 
its  gas  and  electric  franchises,  we  are  led  to  a 
broader  look  at  the  public  franchise  question,  in 
its  relation  to  public  improvements,  as  we  con-' 
sider  the  possibility  of  transplanting  some  of 
these  progressive  Western  ideas  on  civic  devel- 
opment in  the  East.  And  since  the  principles  de- 
scribed below  would  provide  means  for  building 
the  "Uoston  Road"  and  the  "Bristol  Road,''  the 
Overlook  Park  and  the  Auditorium,  and  bring 
other  benefits  in  due  course,  it  seems  proper  to 
mention  them  in  this  report. 

Some  twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago  the  writer 
was  appointed  by  the  City  Council  as  the  City's 
representative  upon  a  Board  of  three  which  was 
to  arbitrate  upon  the  annual  franchise  tax  to  be 
paid  by  the  Street  Railway  Company  to  the  City 
of  Providence  for  the  use  of  its  streets. 

Studies  made  at  that  time  and  the  studies  of 
another  kind  of  public  service  corporation  fran- 
chise that  the  writer  has  had  occasion  to  make  in 
several  cities  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
have  led  to  views  regarding  the  feasibility  of  a 
happy  solution  of  the  difficulties  between  the 
public  and  the  corporation,  which  views  might  be 
considered  Utopian  except  for  the  admirable  re- 
sults obtained  for  several  years  past  in  the  City 
of  Chicago  by  the  application  of  similar  principles 
to  its  street  railway  problems.  This  solution  was 
worked  out  by  Walter  L.  Fisher,  Esq.,  now  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  under  it  the  City  of  Chicago 
without  putting  up  any  money  has  become  a 
partner  in  the  prosperity  of  its  street  railroad 
system  and  received  in  1910  in  cash  about 
$1,705,000  as  its  yearly  share  in  addition  to  taxes, 
with  prospect  of  large  future  increase. 

My  recommendation  would  go  further  and 
definitely  apply  all  income  from  franchise  taxes 
directly  to  the  embellishment  of  the  City.  This 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


77 


would,  I  believe,  tend  to  promote  amicable  rela- 
tions, leaving  the  real  estate  tax  and  personal 
property  tax  to  go  toward  current  expenses  of 
the  city  government. 

Obviously,  the  present  franchise  tax  for  use 
of  the  streets,  consisting  of  some  per  cent,  of  the 
gross  earnings  of  the  corporation,  could  be  defi- 
nitely appropriated  for  municipal  embellishment, 
but  there  are  good  reasons  for  going  further  and 
establishing  the  partnership  principle. 

The  chief  reason  is  that  no  one  is  wise  enough 
to  figure  out  at  the  beginning  of  a  2o-year  term 
just  what  increase  in  profits  may  come  from  im- 
provements in  the  art  or  in  growth  of  traffic,  nor 
what  accidents  or  contingencies  ma\  befall  or 
what  oppressive  legislation;  and  capital  being  pro- 
verbially timid,  the  public  receives  a  smaller  share 
than  if  it  took  its  chances  along  with  the  stock- 
holder. Moreover,  the  partnership  interest  in 
growth  of  profits  will  tend  toward  helpful  legis- 
lation. 

A  valuation  of  the  physical  property  is  the 
foundation  of  the  method,  and  the  publication  of 
earnings  and  expenses  in  detail  is  a  main  feature 
of  the  superstructure,  and  a  public  service  com- 
mission the  guardian  of  both  the  contracting 
parties. 

The  writer  believes  that  this  principle  of  direct 
partnership  in  the  profits  between  the  city  and 
the  corporation  has  a  much  wider  application 
and  is  applicable  to  franchise  arrangements  with 
all  public  service  corporations,  whether  they 
supply  transportation,  gas,  electricity,  telephone 
communication,  electric  subways  or  private  water 
supply.  By  an  application  of  its  principles 
through  one,  two  or  three  generations,  Provi- 
dence might  be  made  without  a  superior  as  a 
beautiful  and  attractive  city  in  which  to  live. 

Stated  in  the  fewest  words  the  method  sug- 
gested is  that  from  time  to  time  as  the  franchises 
of  existing  public  service  corporations  come 
around  for  reconsideration  or  as  new  public  serv- 
ices are  developed  with  the  progress  of  the  arts, 
that  a  physical  valuation  of  the  Company's  prop- 
erty used  in  this  service  should  be  made  and  a 
proper  amount  added  for  organization  expenses 
and  for  overcoming  the  ills  of  childhood  and 


making  it  a  "going  concern.'1  This  value  should 
serve  as  the  basis  of  capitalization,  bonds  and 
stock.  The  corporation  should,  first  of  all,  be 
permitted  to  apply  out  of  its  net  receipts,  after 
providing  the  best  of  maintenance  and  the  best 
appliances  for  serving  the  public,  sufficient  to 
pay  whatever  may  be  deemed  a  fair  and  proper 
rate  of  interest  and  income  upon  the  bonds  and 
stocks  represented  by  this  valuation  and  to 
furthermore  set  aside  proper  amounts  for 
amortization  of  items  liable  to  become  obsolete. 

Then,  of  the  remaining  income,  which  under 
conditions  widely  prevalent  throughout  the  coun- 
try, goes  to  pay  interest  on  "common  stock''  or 
"water"  in  the  stock,  the  city  should  receive  one- 
half  and  the  Company  one-half  (in  Chicago  the 
city  receives  55  per  cent.). 

This  arrangement  presupposes  some  agree- 
ment as  to  a  fair  price  for  the  service  per- 
formed ;  for  example,  as  to  whether  8oc  is  a  fair 
price  per  thousand  feet  for  gas,  30  to  I2C  fair 
prices  for  Kilowatt  hours  in  different  services, 
5c  a  fair  price  for  a  street  car  ride,  etc. 

The  special  merit  of  such  a  partnership  method 
is  that  after  providing  financial  stability  for  the 
investment  and  proper  security  for  money  ex- 
pended on  the  enterprise,  meanwhile  also  making 
due  allowance  for  earnings  that  in  past  years 
have  been  put  into  the  property  instead  of  being 
paid  out  to  the  stockholders  in  dividends,  it  gives 
tc  the  citizen  and  to  the  management  of  the  Com- 
pany an  equal  interest  in  supplying  gas,  elec- 
tricity, telephones,  etc.,  etc.,  with  the  greatest  pos- 
sible economy  and  promotes  the  introduction  of 
the  best  possible  appliances  and  permits  the  ready 
financing  for  purchases  of  improved  appliances 
as  the  arts  develop ;  meanwhile,  it  gives  to  the 
citizen  a  direct  personal  interest  in  seeing  each 
enterprise  achieve  the  highest  possible  degree  of 
profit. 

The  unfortunate  results  in  less  efficient  service 
that  appear  likely  to  follow  the  present  wide- 
spread mutual  distrust  existing  between  the 
public  and  the  public  service  corporation  can.  I 
believe  be  far  more  effectively  met  and  conquered 
Ly  some  such  community  of  interest  than  by 
municipal  ownership,  with  its  far  less  efficient 
administration. 


78 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


In  a  majority  of  our  growing  American  cities 
it  is  probable  that  an  application  to  parks, 
boulevards  and  civic  embellishment,  of  one-half 
of  that  sum  which  is  represented  by  what  is 
popularly  termed  "water"  in  the  capitalization 
of  its  public  utilities,  would  work  a  wondrous 
change  in  adding  to  the  daily  enjoyment  of  life. 

What  would  five  million  or  ten  million  dollars 
have  done  for  beautifying  Providence? 

Is  it  now  forever  too  late? 

NATURAL  MONOPOLIES. 

In  the  so-called  "Citizens'  Plan"  for  a  tunnel, 
the  delusive  thought  is  held  out,  of  improving 
the  public  service  by  municipal  ownership  of  the 
tunnel  and  the  threat  of  its  possible  lease  to  a 
rival  street  car  corporation.  Obviously,  trackage 
rights  on  the  2,000  feet  of  open  street  could  be 
similarly  managed,  but  is  not  all  talk  of  this 
kind  less  hopeful  than  that  of  getting  into  a 
partnership  that  will  give  the  citizens  a  larger 
share  of  the  future  prosperity  which  comes  from 
growth  and  from  a  certainty  that  exclusive  rights 
will  not  be  disturbed. 

Year  by  year  it  is  more  clearly  seen  that  tele- 
phone service,  gas  supply,  street  car  service,  etc., 
are  natural  monopolies  and  that  competition  by 
rival  corporations  occupying  the  public  streets 
as  a  matter  of  fact  and  history  always  brings 
poorer  service  and  ultimately  brings  increased 
cost  to  the  public  and  diminished  income  to  the 
investor.  Instead  of  trying  to  hold  the  club  of  a 
rival  grant  over  the  head  of  the  public  service 
corporation  to  compel  its  good  behavior,  can  not 
we  secure  at  the  start  a  recognized  community 
of  interest  and  income  by  which  the  city  will  aid 


the  corporation  to  hire  its  money  for  improve- 
ments more  cheaply  under  its  guaranty  of  sta- 
bility ;  encourage  it  to  make  improvements  of 
the  most  permanent  kind,  the  cost  of  which  could 
hardly  be  warranted  under  a  2O-year  tenure,  and 
under  which  guaranty  both  citizens  and  stock- 
holders would  share  in  the  prosperity  that  comes 
from  always  being  up-to-date  in  improvements? 

Granting  that  the  exclusive  feature  of  all  of 
these  present  franchises  rather  than  their  con- 
tinuity, is  the  debatable  question,  for  I  think 
most  students  of  the  situation  will  admit  that 
the  present  occupants  can  not  be  put  out  of  the 
streets,  why  not  cut  short  the  debate  and  admit 
that  an  exclusive  right  is  now  and  always  will 
be,  best  for  all  parties  concerned  in  these  natural 
monopolies ;  and  admitting  this,  try  to  arrange 
more  fair,  more  just  and  more  encouraging  terms 
for  partnership  in  the  greater  prosperity  which  the 
exclusive  right  brings  to  the  investors? 

Is  it  not  true  that  on  the  old  basis  of  a  per- 
centage tax  on  gross  receipts  or  on  the  basis  of 
limiting  the  dividend  to  be  paid  to  stockholders, 
the  city  has  made  a  much  poorer  trade  than  if  it 
had  gone  into  partnership  on  the  net  income,  on 
the  Chicago  basis  above  referred  to  ?  And  is  not 
all  talk  of  the  city  building  or  buying  the  tunnel 
and  offering  a  lease  of  it  to  some  rival  street 
railway  simply  nonsense? 

Is  not  there  more  hope  in  first  giving  the  street 
railway  system  a  fair  chance  to  recover  from 
errors  made  in  the  past  until  the  consent  of  the 
public,  and  to  shape  the  future  so  that  after  a 
term  which  will  soon  pass  we  can  enter  on  some 
such  arrangement  as  suggested  above? 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


79 


OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  PROPOSICD  ROGER  WILLIAMS 
STREET. 

Your  Engineer  has  listened  attentively  to  all 
the  objections  that  he  has  heard  or  that  he  can 
learn  have  been  raised  in  public  and  private  dis- 
cussion during  the  ten  months  since  the  report 
of  the  Commission  on  East  Side  Approach  was 
presented  to  the  Common  Council  on  April  10, 
1911.  These,  as  the  writer  understands  them, 
are  substantially  all  comprised  in  the  following: 

That  the  First  Baptist  Meeting  House  will 
have  its  architectural  beauty  destroyed  by  the 
encroachment  of  the  proposed  avenue  upon  the 
southerly  side  of  its  yard  and  that  its  utility  as 
3  place  of  public  worship  will  be  impaired,  some 
say  destroyed,  by  the  noise  of  the  increased  traf- 
fic due  to  widening  and  easing  the  grade  on  this 
part  of  Waterman  Street. 

The  estimate  of  cost  presented  last  April  pro- 
vided liberally  for  the  payment  of  any  damage 
that  might  be  suffered  here.  As  will  be  seen  by 
reference  to  page  105  of  the  present  report 
it  was  estimated  that  $46,200  would  be  paid 
for  damage  to  the  Meeting  House  property, 
although  the  new  street  does  not  come  within  14 
feet  from  the  nearest  corner  of  the  edifice  and 
another  $22,700  paid  for  converting  the  parson- 
age lot  largely  into  a  bordering  park. 

The  sidewalk  of  the  new  loo-foot  street  at  its 
nearest  point  would  not  come  within  14  feet 
of  touching  the  corner  of  the  church  building 
and  the  roadway  would  be  29  feet  away  and  all 
of  the  Roger  Williams  Street  traffic  would  be 
farther  away  than  the  Thomas  Street  traffic  now 
is  on  the  other  side.  The  Church  would  be  far 
less  exposed  to  noise  or  the  disturbance  of  dense 
traffic  than  Grace  Church  in  Providence,  or  Trin- 
ity Church  in  the  Back  Bay  district  of  Boston ; 

(See  the  -photograph  on  page  72)  and  Grace 
Church  instead  of  being  driven  away  has  just 
added  buildings  of  increased  area  and  other  im- 
provements at  a  cost  of  $75,000,  for  extending  its 
parish  work. 


The  present  intolerable  noise  from  the  open- 
ing exhausts  of  automobiles  as  they  climb  the 
present  difficult  grade  past  the  church  would  be 
lessened  by  the  new  easy  grade  of  about  6% 
instead  of  the  present  12%.  And  it  is  easy  to 
believe  that  the  number  of  vehicles  could  be  treb- 
led and  give  far  less  noise  than  worshipers  now 
suffer;  for  the  great  majority  of  all  the  automo- 
biles and  taxi-cabs  that  now  seek  the  east  side 
from  the  center  of  the  city  now  pass  this  church 
with  their  mufflers  cut  out. 

It  is  indeed  an  open  secret  that  the  abandon- 
ment of  this  location  by  the  church  society  has 
long  been  discussed.  I  have  been  told  by  men 
prominent  in  the  Society  that  because  of  present 
disadvantages  of  noise  and  various  inconveni- 
ences, the  matter  of  moving  to  a  new  location 
farther  over  on  the  East  Side  has  been  discussed 
and  that  if  some  way  could  be  found  by  which 
the  city  would  take  the  building  as  a  sort  of 
historical  museum  and  thus  preserve  it  from 
destruction  and  at  the  same  time  pay  for  the 
property  enough  to  help  materially  toward  the 
new  lot  and  structure,  it  would  be  regarded  by 
many  as  a  satisfactory  solution. 

I  should  be  sorry  to  see  that  solution,  because 
the  present  structure  is  far  too  much  of  a  fire 
trap  for  a  historical  museum,  and  because  I  am 
sorry  to  see  a  church  run  away  from  the  center 
of  population. 

The  bringing  of  the  church  into  prominence 
by  virtually  placing  it  on  the  most  prominent 
street  in  the  city  would  give  it  great  opportunities 
for  serving  the  community  and  for  restoring 
its  dwindling  congregation  and  it  is  believed  that 
the  present  architectural  setting  of  the  church, 
which  from  certain  points  of  view  is  not  attrac- 
tive, could  be  greatly  improved  by  raising  the 
church  to  conform  to  the  new  grade  and  by 
re-grading  its  lot.  With  the  funds  derived  as 
damages,  betterments  in  construction  could  be 
carried  out  while  thus  raising  it,  which  would 
greatly  improve  its  Sunday  School  quarters  and 
its  mechanism  for  modern  parish  work  and  which 
would  make  it  far  safer  atrainst  fire. 


80 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


•4, 


ENGFNKER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


81 


-Drawn   m  true  perspective 


THE   FIRST  BAPTIST    MEETING    HOUSE  AND  THE  PROPOSED  .VIADUCT  OVER   NORTH   MAIN   ST. 

As  they  would  appear  with    Church    raised   10  feet    and  lot  re«r«ded  but  without  addition 
of  low  evergreens  or  other  shrubbery  for  partly  hidifij    the.     unattractive    basement"    story. 


82 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


83 


COMMERCIALIZING  THE  EAST  SIDE. 

The  objection  that  appears  to  be  most 
prominently  urged  in  conversation,  is  that  the 
new  street  would  tend  to  open  the  quiet,  semi- 
secluded  residence  district  which  the  hill-top  pre- 
sents as  a  unique  feature  of  Providence  in  its 
convenient  proximity  to  the  business  center ;  is 
that  this  district  would  be  opened  up,  made  noisy 
and  "commercialized ;"  that  its  seclusion  would 
be  destroyed,  that  there  would  be  a  commercial 
invasion  eastward,  that  business  would  follow 
along  Roger  Williams  Street. 

Perhaps  each  citizen  can  best  satisfy  himself 
on  these  points  and  as  to  the  destruction  of  the 
present  beauties  of  this  quarter  of  the  city  by  a 
leisurely  stroll  up  the  hill  along  Angell  Street 
from  Benefit  to  Brown  Streets.  By  continuing 
this  walk  to  the  corner  of  Thayer  Street  and  not- 
ing the  present  "commercial''  conditions  and  in- 
quiring as  to  the  occupancy  of  a  majority  of  the 
houses  near  Benefit  Street,  asking  in  which  cases 
old-time  private  residences  have  been  changed 
into  boarding  houses,  and  also  enquiring  as  to  the 
movement  of  real  estate  values  in  this  immediate 
vicinity  for  the  past  twenty-five  years  and  how 
long  certain  of  the  owners  have  been  looking  for 
buyers,  he  may  learn  much  that  is  pertinent. 

He  will  find  that  the  commercializing  in  the 
vicinity  of  Thayer  Street  began  at  least  ten  years 
ago  and  a  little  reflection  as  to  the  course  of 
retail  trade  will  show  it  preposterous  to  expect 
that  much  business  or  many  stores  would  jump 
the  broad  gap  of  Post  Office  Square,  School  of 
Design,  Court  House,  and  the  parked  borders 
presented  in  the  plans  for  Roger  Williams  Street. 
It  will  be  well  for  the  inquiring  citizen  to  also 
stroll  up  Thayer  Street  to  Meeting  Street  and 
study  the  character  and  tendencies  all  through 
this  district  for  years  past  and  at  present  and  get 
a  better  view  of  the  local  color. 

As  to  the  effect  upon  the  two  beautiful  man- 
sions at  the  corner  of  Prospect  Street  and  Angell 
Street,  I  believe  these  would  be  benefited  rather 
than  injured,  for  the  present  squealing  and 
grinding  of  the  street  cars  around  this  street 
corner  would  be  removed  and  the  cars  would 
pass  these  houses  at  so  low  a  level  and  on  such 


an  easy  grade  and  with  so  little  call  for  stops  in 
the  vicinity  that  their  noises  could  hardly  be  so 
serious  a  matter  as  now  although  the  traffic  were 
more  than  doubled. 

Such  care  has  been  taken  to  extend  the  arch- 
way easterly  from  Prospect  Street  and  to  give 
a  park-like  treatment  to  a  part  of  what  is  now 
street  surface,  that  to  a  person  walking  up  Pros- 
pect Street  the  change  from  present  conditions 
would  not  be  offensively  apparent.  Both  houses 
would  be  given  a  broader  outlook  to  the  West- 
ward,— toward  the  civic  center  over  the  widened 
street; — and  furthermore,  in  the  estimate  of 
cost  of  Roger  Williams  Street  there  has  been 
figured  an  allowance  for  damages  which  is  a 
very  liberal  percentage  of  the  tax  assessors'  val- 
uation of  these  estates  and  similar  liberality  has 
been  shown  in  valuing  others  near  them. 

The  claim  that  a  broad,  easy-grade  thoroughfare 
over  College  Hill  would  depress  real  estate  val- 
ues over  the  whole1  East  Side,  from  IJowen 
Street  on  the  North  to  Power  Street  on  the 
South,  presents  a  question  more  open  to  ridicule 
than  to  reason.  The  long  years  of  waiting  for 
customers  for  certain  dwellings  that  can  be  named 
and  the  slowness  with  which  vacant  lots  have 
filled  up  in  this  district  during  the  past  twenty- 
five  years  and  the  extent  to  which  old  houses 
have  been  improved,  all  give  a  fair  index  to 
present  conditions. 

To  the  writer,  after  having  tried  to  impar- 
tially analyze  the  objections,  it  has  appeared  that 
the  advocacy  of  a  tunnel  for  street  cars  only  had 
!ts  foundation  in  groundless  fears  and  in  a  will- 
ingness to  preserving  a  certain  present  local  stag- 
nation that  is  comfortable  to  a  few  estimable 
citizens,  without  regard  to  the  promotion  of  the 
best  interests  of  the  city  as  a  whole. 

WHY  is  GROWTH  DESIRED? 

Evidence  accumulates  that  there  are  many 
residents  who  prefer  to  see  Providence  remain  as 
it  was  twenty-five  years  ago  rather  than  to  see  it 
grow,  and  therefore  it  is  proper  to  enquire  why 
growth  is  desired. 

Why  should  the  city  be  made  more  attractive? 


84 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


By  some  the  answer  will  be :  In  order  that 
trade  conditions  may  be  improved,  that  more 
customers  may  be  brought  to  our  stores,  that 
more  demand  will  be  created  for  our  real  estate, 
quicker  sale  for  vacant  lots,  better  rentals 
received  for  business  property,  etc. ;  by  others 
the  answer  is  that  with  the  city  made  more 
attractive  we  shall  grow  in  civic  pride,  shall  pro- 
mote better  citizenship,  gain  in  support  for  our 
University,  get  more  fresh  air  and  sunshine  into 
our  lives,  and  be  able  to  support  better  enter- 
tainments, better  music,  more  instructive  lecture 
courses,  etc.,  etc.,  and  in  a  hundred  ways  develop 
better  opportunities  for  the  average  man's  fam- 
ily to  enjoy  a  broader  and  fuller  life. 

It  would  not  be  proper  to  conclude  this  report 
without  expressing  my  warm  appreciation  of  the 
assistance  kindly  extended  to  me  by  the  En- 
gineers of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hart- 
ford Railroad  in  matters  of  data  for  estimating 
costs;  to  Mr.  Geo.  A.  Kimball,  Chief  Engineer, 
Boston  Elevated  Railway  for  information  upon 
cost  of  subways ;  to  Professor  Charles  W.  Brown 


for  his  preparation  of  notes  upon  the  geology  of 
College  Hill,  as  a  guide  to  the  kind  of  ex- 
cavation likely  to  be  encountered  in  tunnel  and 
subway. 

I  desire  to  also  record  my  appreciation  of  the 
liberal  and  friendly  spirit  in  which  Mr.  Chas.  S. 
Mellen,  President  N.  Y.  N.  H.  and  H.  R.  R.  and 
Mr.  D.  F.  Sherman,  Vice-President  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Co.  showed  .their  desire  to  assist  not  only 
in  the  improvement  of  transportation  but  also 
the  embellishment  of  our  city. 

The  thanks  of  their  fellow  citizens  are  parti- 
cularly due  to  Hon.  Charles  O.  Gorman  and  to 
various  members  of  the  firm  of  Edwards  and 
Angell  for  their  painstaking  review,  pro-bono- 
publico,  of  the  terms  of  the  Dexter  will,  and  the 
legal  aspects  of  transforming  the  Dexter  Asylum 
grounds  into  a  public  park,  as  per  the  opinions 
set  forth  in  the  appendix. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

JOHN  R.  FREEMAN, 

Engineer. 


Past  and  present  conditions  at  Thayer  and  Meeting  Streets. 


On  pages  next  following  are  presented  a  few  of  the  many  typical  photographs  collected  in  course  of  studies 
upon  the  minimum  width  of  street  between  curbs,  required  in  order  to  give  a  rapid  flow  of  vehicular  traffic 
alongside  of  a  double  line  of  street  cars. 

It  was  found  that  the  controlling  feature  was  width  on  each  side  of  the  car  tracks  sufficient  for  a  fast 
moving  vehicle  to  pass  by  a  slow  moving  vehicle  and  between  a  street  car  on  one  side  and  on  the  other 
side  a  vehicle  stopped  at  the  curb. 

For  this  a  width  of  70-feet  between  curbs  is  desirable. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


85 


Boylston  St.    East  oF   Berkeley  -  Boston 
50  Ft.  between  curbs 


This  is  found  too  narrow  to  give  a  free  flow  of  traffic: 
congestion  often  results  from  this  and  the  progress  of  the 
street  cars  is  impeded. 


86 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


16  to    51".  -  Denver 
80  Ft  befween  buildings 
48   n         "          curbs. 


The  ample  sidewalks  have  left  too  narrow  a  space  for 
rapid  vehicular  traffic  between  the  curbs.  This  photograph 
happens  to  have  been  taken  at  an  hour  when  traffic  was 
light. 

The  fact  that  this  street  is  paralleled  by  numerous  other 
8o-foot  streets  lessens  the  discomfort. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


87 


2**  Ave.  Seattle. 

90  ft.  between    buildinjs. 
54  f>        "  curbs. 


The  distance  between  the  curbs  is  not  quite  sufficient  for 
a  fast  moving  vehicle  to  pass  one  that  moves  slowly,  and 
congestion  of  traffic  is  the  result. 


88 


ENGINEER'S  FIXAL  REPORT. 


Market"  St  -  San  Francisco. 
76  ft.   between     Curbs 


This  gives  the  best  and  most  rapid  flow  of  traffic  of  'any  of 
the  streets  studied  by  your  engineer. 

The  branching  streets  pour  a  vast  volume  of  traffic  from 
the  entire  business  section  of  the  city  into  this  street,  which 
it  takes  care  of  easily. 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  REPORT. 


89 


The  two   views   above   are   "snapshots"   on   Massachusetts  Avenue.  Cambridge,  Mass. 

This  street  here  is  100  feet  wide  and  the  width  between  curbs  presents  ample  width  for  rapid  transit, 
for  a  future  population  larger  than  the  present. 

The  main  Central  Avenue  to  the  East  Side  of  Providence  should  be  built  of  a  width  suitable  for  a 
future  Providence  of  much  more  than  double  the  present  population. 


MAIN     ST.,     ROCHESTER,     N.    Y. 


FOURTEENTH     ST..     WASHINGTON,     D.    C. 


Both  of  the  above  streets  are  of  the  same  width  that  is  proposed  for  Roger  Williams  Street. 
At  times  both  of  these  streets  carry  successfully  a  much  larger  traffic  than  happened  to  be  in  evidence 
at  the  moments  when  the  above  views  were  taken. 


90 


ENGINEER'S  FINAL  RKPOKT. 


"Isle  of  Safety''  for  street  car  passengers  Market  Street,  San  Francisco, 
Calif.  The  detail  photographs  below  show  the  form  of  seat  more  clearly. 

Seats  similar  to  these  are  incorporated  in  the  design  for  the  East  Side  Ap- 
proach, at  the  beginning  of  the  incline  in  Post  Office  Square.  They  might  well 
be  provided  also  in  connection  with  an  overhead  shelter  at  the  more  important 
stopping  places,  alongside  the  grass  plats  or  parking,  on  the  "Bristol  Road"  and 
along  the  "Boston  Road." 


Group  waiting  for  street  car  near  middle  of  a  broad 
street.  Market  Street,  San  Francisco. 


Detail  of  Seat  for  "Isle  of  Safety' 
with  stopping  place  for  street  cars. 
San  Francisco.  Calif. 


in  connection 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


91 


DETAILED  ESTIMATES  OF  COST. 
Report  of  Horace  Ro[>cs,  Civil  Engineer. 

PHOVJDENCE,   R.   1.,   May   4th,   1911. 
MR.  JOHN  R.  FREEMAN, 

Consulting   Engineer, 

1'roiidence,  R.  I. 
SIR: — 

Relative  to  the  proposed  "Easy-grade  Approach"  for 
the  East  Side  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  1  am  transmitting 
herewith  an  estimate  of  quantities  of  work  and  cost  of 
construction  for  Roger  Williams  Street,  so-called. 
This  estimate  has  been  made  almost  wholly  by  myself 
but  under  your  directions,  and  it  is  based  on  your  latest 
plans  for  this  new  thoroughfare,  as  at  present  on  file  in 
your  office. 

In  order  that  the  questions  of  necessary  immediate 
outlay  may  be  intelligently  differentiated  from  expendi- 
tures which  may  be  deferred,  I  have  arranged  my 
computations  to  show, — 

Estimate  A, — covers  cost  of  land  and  construction 
for  Roger  Williams  Street  only,  but  in  addition  to  work 
within  the  lines  of  the  100  foot  street,  the  estimate 
includes  for  those  portions  between  Benefit  Street  and 
Brown  Street  where  side  slopes  are  used  between  the 
new  grade  and  the  adjacent  ground  left  vacant,  an 
additional  allowance  of  three  feet  in  width  on  each 
side  in  order  to  provide  for  gutters  to  carry  the  drain- 
age from,  the  "1  on  1%"  side  slope. 

In  estimate  A  (except  for  learning  and  seeding  the 
side  slopes  just  referred  to  )  no  cost  is  included  for 
any  noteworthy  improvement  of  the  residue  of  the 
land  takings  remaining  on  either  side  outside  the  100- 
foot  limits  of  the  new  street.  This  estimate  includes 
the  cost  of  about  five  acres  of  land  surrounding  Pros- 
pect Terrace,  on  the  steep  slope  of  the  hill  westerly 
from  Congdon  Street,  extending  northerly  from  the 
N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  tunnel  right-of-way  to  Bowen 
Street,  which  it  is  assumed  would  be  acquired  by  the 
City  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  convenient  dumping 
ground  for  the  economical  disposal  of  the  surplus  of 
earth  and  rock  and  debris  excavated  along  the  deep 
open  cut,  and  the  estimate  provides  for  depositing  this 
material  in  a  form  suitable  to  the  requirements  of  a 
future  park.  The  amount  of  cut  and  fill  required  for 
this  purpose  is  indicated  on  the  attached  cross-section 
sheets  by  areas  colored  red.* 

"These  cross-section  sheets  not  photo-engraved.  Blueprints 
on  file  in  City  Engineer's  office. 

ESTIMATES   OF   COST. 

Estimate  B, This  covers  additional  cost  for  land 

and  grading  required  to  put  certain  lands  left  vacant 
by  removal  of  certain  buildings  between  Benefit  and 
Brown  Streets,  on  both  sides  of  Roger  Williams 
Street  in  attractive  shape  for  park  purposes.  For  this 
purpose  it  is  assumed  that  walls  three  to  four  feet  high 
will  be  built  along  the  street  lines  next  the  lots  devoted 
to  parking,  and  that  the  adjacent  land  will  be  graded 
to  the  flatter  slopes  shown  by  the  broken  grade  lines 
"A"  on  the  blue  areas  of  the  cross-section  sheets. 

"A"  is  a  sub-grade  on  which  it  is  proposed  to  refill 
with  twelve  inches  of  yellow  sub-soil  and  six  inches 
of  black  loam. 

Estimate  C, — This  covers  an  additional  cost  which  it 
may  be  advantageous  for  the  City  to  incur  in  order 
to  render  certain  of  the  lands  left  vacant  alongside 
Roger  Williams  Street  between  Benefit  and  Brown 
Streets  more  attractive  to  purchasers,  in  case  it  appears 
desirable  for  the  City  to  sell  the  said  land. 


The  amount  of  grading  required  to  make  these  lots 
suitable  for  building  upon  would  affect  the  sale  value 
of  the  lot  and  since  this  charge  would  ultimately  be 
borne  by  the  purchaser,  it  obviously  is  better  and  more 
economical  in  the  end  for  the  grading  to  be  done  sys- 
tematically by  the  City  at  the  same  time  with  the  cut- 
ting of  the  street  to  grade,  rather  than  to  have  it  done 
in  an  irregular  and  haphazard  manner  by  individual 
owners.  This  is  rendered  more  important  by  require- 
ment of  long  and  rather  high  retaining  walls  on  the 
back  line  of  these  lots,  which  should  be  built  continu- 
ously and  in  a  substantial  manner. 

The  additional  amount  of  grading  and  masonry 
required  for  this  purpose  is  shown  by  the  blue  areas 
on  the  cross-section  sheets  and  if  the  parking  plan 
were  first  put  into  effect,  would  comprise  only  that 
portion  of  the  blue  area  below  the  broken  grade  line 
"A." 

Estimate  D, — On  the  cross-section  sheets  there  are 
some  areas  between  Waterman  Street  and  Fones  Alley, 
westerly  from  DeFoe  Place,  and  between  Fones  Alley 
and  Roger  Williams  Street  easterly  from  DeFoe 
Place,  which  are  colored  brown.  The  excavation  for 
those  portions  of  the  cross-sections  is  no  part  of  the 
street  plan  or  of  the  park  plan,  but  I  regard  these  out- 
lines as  suggestive  of  the  lines  to  which  the  ground 
will  gradually  become  shaped  in  the  more  or  less  dis- 
tant future,  and  thus  these  lines  and  areas  serve  a  pur- 
pose in  showing  why  the  rear  and  face  walls  west  of 
Prospect  Street  have  not  been  projected  quite  so  high 
as  originally  proposed  for  Estimate  C. 

In  the  estimates  you  will  find  a  •memorandum  of  the 
quantities  of  earth  and  rock  included  in  these  brown 
sections,  but  as  before  stated,  the  cost  of  moving  this 
material  has  no  bearing  on  the  Roger  Williams  Street 
project. 

METHOD    OF    MAKING    THE    ESTIMATES    OF 
COST. 

My  estimates  have  been  made  in  considerable  detail, 
as  can  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  summaries  at  the 
end  of  this  report.  The  quantities  have  also  been  fig- 
ured carefully  from  the  data  at  hand,  and  reasonable 
allowances  have  been  included  to  cover  uncertainties 
due  to  the  absence  of  accurate  surveys,  and  the  lack  of 
information  as  to  the  true  depths  to  rock  formation  at 
various  points  along  the  route.  To  determine  the 
amounts  of  excavation,  embankment  and  masonry  to 
be  built,  four  standard  size  sheets,  A.  B.  C.  D.,  25 
inches  by  37  inches  of  cross-sections  have  been  pre- 
pared for  purposes  of  this  estimate. 

The  cross-sections  for  Roger  Williams  Street  were 
compiled  from  elevations  shown  on  a  tracing  obtained 
from  the  records  of  the  City  Engineer,  said  tracing 
showing  contours  at  two-foot  intervals.  These  con- 
tours have  been  checked  by  one  of  your  assistants  by 
comparing  them  with  the  curb-levels  used  by  the  City 
Engineer  and  have  been  otherwise  verified  and  ex- 
tended by  hand  level  surveys  on  the  ground. 

The  cross-sections  for  Boston  Road  and  Overlook 
Park  are  the  results  of  actual  measurements  made  by 
two  of  your  assistants.  The  work  was  done  by  stadia 
methods. 

Three  of  the  sheets  of  cross-sections  relate  to  Roger 
Williams  Street,  and  one  to  Overlook  Park.  For 
present  purposes  this  future  Park  area  is  considered 
merely  for  its  utility  as  a  dumping  ground  for  excess 
excavation  from  Roger  Williams  Street  and  its  immedi- 
ate vicinity. 


92 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


On  three  white  print  copies  of  your  drawings  num- 
bered 2,  3  and  20,  I  have  shown  the  location  of  these 
cross-sections  and  also  the  limits  to  which  operations 
would  probably  extend  under  the  plans  herein  pre- 
viously outlined.  These  prints  are  called  Sheets  E, 
F  and  G. 

LAND  DAMAGES. 

Obviously,  the  item  of  greatest  expense  and  the  one 
involving  greatest  uncertainty  as  to  actual  cost  is  that 
comprising  the  payments  to  be  -made  for  taking  full 
possession  of  certain  lands  and  buildings,  and  for  ob- 
taining easements  on  other  parcels  for  the  permanent 
location  of  walls  or  graded  slopes,  together  with  inci: 
dental  damages  occasioned  by  these  takings,  and  by 
the  temporary  occupation  and  disturbance  of  some 
adjacent  property. 

According  to  your  instructions,  wherever  an  entire 
parcel  is  to  be  taken,  the  cost  to  the  City  has  been 
estimated  at  one  and  one-half  times  the  official  assessed 
valuation  of  said  property  for  1909. 

Cases  where  only  a  portion  of  the  property  need 
be  taken  have  been  considered  each  by  itself  as  to  the 
actual  value  of  the  land  taken  and  the  consequential 
damages  to  the  remaining  land  and  buildings. 

A  tabulation  showing  the  owners  affected  in  any 
way,  the  assessed  valuation  of  their  properties  as  a 
-whole  and  the  estimated  payments  to  be  made  to  them 
for  that  portion  taken  and  for  damages  inflicted  is 
given  on  pages  158  to  175  and  is  followed  by  notes 
explaining  the  allowances  for  consequential  damages 
in  the  cases  especially  considered. 

EARTH  AND  ROCK  EXCAVATION. 

No  special  test  pits  or  drill  holes  have  been  sunk 
along  the  line  of  Roger  Williams  Street,  neither  have 
there  been  any  cellar  or  sewer  excavations  in  progress 
from  which  to  judge  the  character  of  the  materials 
to  be  dealt  with.  My  observations  of  the  ground  ex- 
posed to  the  east  and  west  portals  of  the  railroad  tun- 
nel, and  in  the  old  cellar  excavation  in  Braxton  Court, 
where  the  earth  is  of  a  light,  sandy  nature,  soft  and 
easy  to  handle,  and  apparently  quite  like  the  deep 
deposits  of  sandy  material  generally  surrounding  this 
locality,  though  some  considerable  distance  away,  lead 
me  to  believe  that  the  earth  excavation  on  Roger  Wil- 
liams Street  will  be  easy  digging  which  can  be  done 
at  a  low  cost  per  cubic  yard. 

The  assumptions  for  the  probable  depth  at  which 
ledge  would  be  encountered,  as  shown  on  the  cross- 
sections,  were  based  qn  data  obtained  from  the  Sewer 
Department  as  to  the  depth  at  which  rock  was  found 
in  the  sewer  trenches  on  Angell,  Olive.  Meeting*. 
Cushing  and  Congdon  Streets,  and  other  information 
as  to  depth  to  rock  in  three  drill  holes,  one  on  Benefit, 
one  on  Prospect  and  the  third  420  ft.  easterly  from 
the  first,  all  about  50  ft.  northerly  from  College  Street. 
Good  data  upon  the  character  of  the  rock  and  its 
depth  below  the  earth  surface  was  also  found  at  the 
west  portal  of  the  railroad  tunnel. 

Between  these  known  ledge  elevations  at  not  far 
distant  points,  others  were  interpolated  on  the  line 
of  Roger  Williams  Street  to  give  a  general  center  line 
profile.  The  general  slope  of  the  ledge,  transversely 
to  this  center  line,  was  deduced  from  approximate 
cross-sections  of  the  ledge  at  stations  9  plus  70  and 
15  to  be  as  follows : 

At  Sta.  9  x  70,  slope  1  on  9  to  left  and  1  on  14.7  to 
right. 


At  Sta.  15  slope  1  on  9.7  to  left  and  1  on  14.6  to 
right. 

Of  course  no  great  accuracy  can  .be  claimed  for  this 
method,  but  although  at  many  spots  the  actual  location 
of  ledge  may  vary  widely  above  or  below  my  assump- 
tions, probably  on  the  average  it  is  reasonably  correct. 

The  recent  railroad  tunnel  pierces  the  ridge  within 
which  the  excavation  is  to  be  made  and  between  Cong- 
don and  Brown  Streets  the  tunnel  is  beneath  the  pro- 
posed street,  and  practically  parallel  to  it,  so  that  it 
has  been  .possible  to  obtain  good  information  as  to 
the  character  of  the  rock  to  be  excavated. 

Although  it  is  generally  understood  that  much  of. 
the  rock  formation  through  which  the  tunnel  was 
driven  was  scrft,  slippery,  and  in  manjy  places 
disintegrated,  it  appears  from  the  engineer's  progress 
profile  that  the  greater  part  of  that  portion  immediately 
underlying  our  proposed  excavation  for  Roger  Wil- 
liams Street  was  through  a  fairly  firm  sandstone  and 
shale  formation,  the  beds  of  which  have  been  tilted  to  a 
steep  angle  from  the  horizontal,  so  that  our  excava- 
tion will  intersect  them  at  a  higher  level. 

The  profile  indicates  that  between  Congdon  Street 
and  DeFoe  Place  we  shall  find  fine  sandstone  grit  with 
thin  seams  of  graphite;  large  veins  of  quartz  inter- 
mixed with  graphite ;  a  thick  bed  of  light-colored,  fine- 
grained sandstone  gradually  increasing  in  hardness 
'cowards  Prospect  Street. 

Near  Prospect  Street  the  formation  may  be  expected 
to  change  to  firm  sandy  shale  with  graphite  veins  in 
considerable  quantity  and  before  reaching  Brown 
Street  it  will  again  change  to  carboniferous  shales 
with  veins  of  graphite  and  quartz.  These  probabili- 
ties are  in  a  measure  confirmed  by  the  ledge  outcrops 
to  'be  seen  on  the  east  side  of  Congdon  Street  at 
Bowen  Street,  Lloyd  Avenue  and  on  towards  Jenckes 
Street. 

The  hard,  gritty  nature  of  some  of  the  sandstone 
and  the  prevalence  of  soft  seams  may  perhaps  make 
hard  drilling  at  places,  but  generally  the  rock  should 
be  easily  broken  with  light  charges  of  powder,  and 
excavated  at  a  comparatively  low  price  for  rock  work. 

Although  the  harder  formations  will  be  more  costly 

to  excavate  than  the  softer  rocks  found  in  the  east- 
erly portion  of  the  tunnel,  it  will  be  fortunate  if  the 
rock  near  Prospect  Street  turns  out  to  be  hard,  since 
much  of  it  can  then  be  utilized  for  concrete,  thus 
saving  the  expense  of  bringing  crushed  stone  or  gravel 
from  distant  localities. 

I  estimated  that  there  will  be  106,800  cubic  yards  of 
earth  and  60,500  cubic  yards  of  rock  excavation. 
Allowing  that  one  cubic  yard  of  rock  in  place  will  ex- 
pand to  1.6  cubic  yards  when  broken  the  total  volume 
of  excavated  rock  to  be  disposed  of  will  be  96,800 
cubic  yards,  adding  the  earth  we  have  203,600  cubic 
yards.  Of  this  about  26,000  cubic  yards  will  be  used 
for  filling  to  grade  of  the  new  street  from  Post  Office 
Square  to  Benefit  Street ;  21,000  cubic  yards  more  will 
be  required  for  back-filling  of  trenches,  for  filling 
behind  masonry  walls,  for  surfacing  slopes,  etc.  and 
about  26,000  cubic  yards  of  the  broken  stone,  if  it 
proves  suitable,  can  be  utilized  for  the  concrete  walls. 

Deducting  these  quantities  from  the  total  of  203,600 
cubic  yards  of  excavation  there  remains  approximately 
131,000  cubic  yards  to  be  wasted.  This  can  be  dis- 
posed of  without  difficulty  on  the  five  acres  outlined 
on  Sheet  G. 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


93 


It  is  estimated  that  the  acquisition  of  this  dumping 
ground  will  cost  the  City  $268,000,  but  the  saving 
effected  in  the  final  disposal  of  the  131,000  cubic  yards 
of  excavation  to  'be  wasted  would  probably  amount  to 
nearly  one  dollar  per  cubic  yard  and  possibly  to  more 
when  all  the  costs  are  counted,  the  depending  on  the 
distance  it  had  to  be  hauled,  and  on  the  fact  that  the 
economy  of  the  steam  shovel  would  disappear  if  the 
slower  transportation  by  teams  had  to  be  used.  Thus 
half  the  cost  of  this  land  and  all  the  cost  of  grading 
it  is  saved  by  creating  the  park  in  connection  with 
the  easy  grade  street. 

The  time  element  must  also  have  weight  in  consid- 
ering the  park  site  as  a  dump,  in  comparison  with 
hauling  by  horses  and  carts  over  the  hill  or  to  any 
of  the  common  dumping  grounds,  or  in  comparison 
with  taking  it  in  scows  down  the  river,  as  was  done 
for  the  smaller  daily  volume  from  the  west  portal  of 
the  railroad  tunnel.  Another  item  of  expense  to  be 
considered  if  the  material  were  to  tie  hauled  a  long 
distance  is  the  wear  and  tear  'by  heavy  teaming  over 
certain  streets.  Moreover  to  move  this  large  quantity 
by  teams  over  a  long  haul  through  public  streets  would 
keep  these  streets  dirty  and  congested,  cause  delay 
and  inconvenience  the  public  far  more  than  the  method 
of  short  haul  by  narrow  gage  railroad  cars  to  the 
site  of  Overlook  Park. 

This  excavation  is  naturally  a  steam  shovel  propo- 
sition, with  light  railroad  tracks  and  cars  for  trans- 
porting the  material.  The  average  length  of  haul  for 
the  street  filling  would  be  about  600  feet,  and  for 
material  placed  in  the  Overlook  Park  dump,  it  will 
average  about  1,200  feet.  It  is  reasonable  to  assume 
that  with  due  allowances  for  depreciation  of  plant, 
laying  and  shifting  of  tracks,  building  trestles,  etc., 
the  cost  for  hauling  and  placing  will  be  very  nearly 
10  and  18  cents  per  cubic  yard  respectively  for  the 
two  cases  mentioned. 

The  extra  cost  of  re-filling  behind  walls,  and  spreading 
surface  material  on  slopes,  etc.,  will  be  about  10  cents 
per  cubic  yard,  even  though  the  haul  is  made  (as  it 
should  be)  very  short. 


There  is  'much  variation  in  the  cost  of  steam  shovel 
work  in  similar  materials,  clue  to  the  differences  of 
skill  in  the  management  of  the  transportation  system, 
which  should  'be  arranged  so  as  to  keep  the  shovel 
working  as  steadily  as  possible.  Assuming  that  there 
is  a  sufficiency  of  cars  and  a  well-managed  train  ser- 
vice, one  40  to  50  ton  steam  shovel  operated  at  a  cost 
of  $75  per  eight-hour  day  should  easily  maintain  an 
average  rate  of  800  cubic  yards  per  day  in  the  light, 
sandy  earth,  and  not  less  than  400  cubic  yards  per 
day  with  this  shale  and  sandstone,  which  gives  good 
promise  of  breaking  up  small  and  therefore  will  be 
easily  handled  by  the  shovel. 

Using  the  above  assumptions  as  to  cars  and  fairly 
skillful  management,  I  find  that  the  excavation,  in- 
cluding a  fair  profit  to  the  contractor,  on  the  basis 
of  an  eight-hour  day  and  wages  of  $2.00  per  day  to 
common  labor,  should  cost  for  earth  finally  deposited, — 

9   cents   per  cu.   yd.    for   excavation ; 
16  cents  per  cu.  yd.  average  cost  of  hauling  and  plat-ing; 

5  cents  per  cu.  yd.  for  contractor's  profit,  etc. 

30  cents  per  cu.  yd.  to  cover  everything,  including 
superintendence,  depreciation  of  plant,  insurance, 
etc..  but  to  be  safe  I  have  used  35  cents  per  cubic 
yard  in  this  preliminary  estimate. 

For  the   rock  work  under  skillful  handling   I   judge 
the  cost  would  be  about  as  follows, — 
20   cents   per   cu.   yd.    (in   place)    for   drilling  and   ex- 
plosives ; 

18  cents  per  cu.  yd.   (in  place)   for  shovelling; 
26  cents  per  cu.  yd.    (in  place)    for  hauling  and  dump- 
ing; 
10  cents  per  cu.  yd.   (in  place)   for  contractor's  profit. 

74  cents  per  cu.  yd.  (in  place)  to  include  everything, 
but  to  avoid  possibility  of  under-estimating,  I 
have  used  85  cents  per  cubic  yard  as  a  fair  average 
price  for  this  rock. 

In  sewer  trenches,  the  excavation  will  have  to  'be 
made  by  hand  and  it  has  'been  classified  at  higher 
prices. 


94 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OK  ESTIMATES. 


FOUNDATION    FOR   WALLS. 

The  best  available  data  show  that  nearly  all  of  the 
walls  west  of  Canal  Street  will  rest  on  firm  foundation, 
not  requiring  the  use  of  piles.  Easterly  from  Canal 
Street  the  fine  sandy  material  is  compact  and  will 
have  sufficient  bearing  power  at  a  depth  of  four  or  five 
feet,  so  long  as  not  disturbed  by  some  deeper  excava- 
tion nearby.  Between  Congdon  and  Brown  Streets. 
where  the  walls  are  highest  and  heaviest,  a  bed-rock 
foundation  will  probably  be  found. 

Most  of  the  foundation  trenches  will  be  of  shallow 
depth  and  they  have  been  figured  as  taken  out  with 
their  bottom  two  feet  wider  than  the  base  of  masonry 
and  with  slopes  of  1  on  1  in  earth  and  1  on  %  in  rock. 
with  the  thought  that  if  the  contractor  elects  to  sheet 
the  trench  the  extra  excavation  allowed  will  practically 
compensate  for  the  cost  of  lumber  and  labor  required 
for  sheeting. 

COST  OF  CONCRETE. 

Sand. — The  chances  of  finding  -much  sand  suitable 
for  concrete  on  the  site  of  the  work  appear  to  me  very 
slight.  For  the  railroad  work  the  sand  and  gravel 
were  all  hauled  by  teams  from  a  pit  on  Hartford  Avenue 
a  distance  of  nearly  2%  miles.  Sand  pits  in  East 
Providence  are  more  accessible  now,  but  even  from 
them  the  haul  would  not  be  less  than  1%  mili;s. 

It  is  stated  on  good  authority  that  sand  can  be  hauled 
from  the  Hartford  Avenue  gravel  bank  to  Market 
Square  for  about  $1.00  per  cubic  yard  or  delivered  by 
rail  f.  o.  b.  at  Providence  railroad  yard  for  75  to  80 
cents  per  cubic  yard.  Mr.  Joseph  McCormick,  a  local 
contractor,  quoted  me  a  price  of  80  cents  per  cubic 
yard  for  sand  delivered  at  Benefit  and  Angell  Streets 
from  East  Providence. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  a  suitable  sand  could  be 
produced  at  materially  less  cost  right  on  the  work,  by 
mixing  a  certain  proportion  of  the  fine  sand  coming  from 
the  cuts  with  a  coarser  grade  obtained  by  pulverizing 
selected  rock  (quartz  and  sandstone)  also  from  the 
cuts  on  the  work. 

It  is  assumed  that  80  cents  per  cubic  yard  will  be  the 
extreme  cost  for  sand. 

Stone  for  Concrete.— Mr.  Wescott,  Assistant  Engineer 
of  the  N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.,  informed  me  that 
crushed  stone  can  be  delivered  by  rail  f.  o.  b.  Provi- 
dence for  $1.00  to  $1.25  per  cubic  yard.  However, 
the  larger  part  of  the  concrete  for  the  westerly 
approach  and  for  the  lining  of  the  railroad  tunnel  was 
made  with  gravel  hauled  from  the  Hartford  Avenue 
bank,  so  presumably  that  source  of  supply  was  the 
cheapest  at  that  time. 

From  a  personal  inspection  of  the  Hartford  Avenue 
bank  it  appeared  that  of  a  30  to  40  foot  depth  of  this 
deposit  of  drift  material  the  larger  part  is  practically 
clean  sand ;  the  gravel  stones  being  limited  to  a  top 
layer  from  10  to  12  feet  thick.  This  top  layer  has 
been  pretty  much  worked  over,  and  I  judge  the  gravel 
supply  is  practically  exhausted. 

Mr.  McCormick  stated  gravel  from  East  Providence 
could  be  delivered  on  the  work  for  $1.40  per  cubic  yard. 

I  think  there  are  well  sustained  reasons  for  believing 
that  it  will  be  possible  to  sort  out  enough  sandstone, 
quartz  and  slate  suitable  for  concrete  from  the  rock 
excavation  on  the  site  of  the  work  to  build  all  the 
masonry.  The  extra  cost  for  sorting  rock  would  be 


comparatively  little,  and  on  the  average  certainly  ought 
not  to  exceed  30  cents  per  cubic  yard.  As  the  quarry 
charge  has  already  been  covered  by  the  allowance  for 
rock  excavation,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  rock  can 
be  delivered  at  the  crusher  for  not  to  exceed  50  cents 
per  cubic  yard,  solid  measure.  The  crushing  cost  for 
a  plant  to  turn  out  500  cubic  yards  of  broken  stone  per 
day  may  be  safely  assumed  as, — • 

18  cents  per  cu.  yd.  crushed  stone  for  labor  and  fuel 
etc.; 

20  cents  per  cu.  yd.  for  maintenance  and  deprecia- 
tion of  plant  for  21,000  cubic 
yards. 

38  cents  per  cu  yd.  of  crushed  stone; 
30  cents  for  cost  of  sorting  and  delivering  0.6  cu.  yd. 
(solid  measure)   of  rock  to  crusher. 

69  cents  per  cubic  yard  total  cost  of  crushed  stone. 

For  safety  call  this  80  cents  per  cubic  yard  and  fur- 
ther assume  that  not  more  than  one-half  the  stone  can 
be  obtained  from  the  excavation,  thus  leaving  one-half 
to  be  supplied  from  East  Providence  at  say  $1.40  per 
cubic  yard,  making  the  average  cost  for  concrete  stone 
for  this  preliminary  estimate  $1.10  per  cubic  yard. 

Cement. — The  City  of  Providence  pays  about  $1.75 
per  barrel  for  Portland  cement  in  cotton  sacks.  The 
salvage  on  sacks  amounts  to  about  80%  of  their  cost 
or  say  30c.  for  the  four  sacks  containing  a  barrel  of 
cement,  making  net  cost  of  cement  delivered  at  site  of 
work  $1.45  per  barrel. 

The  N.  Y..  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  Co.,  is  reported  to  have 
paid  $1.30  to  $1.40  per  barrel  net  for  cement  used  in 
the  tunnel. 

I  have  assumed  the  cost  delivered  at  the  mixer  will 
be  $1.50  net  per  barrel. 

Proportions  for  Concrete. — It  has  been  assumed  that 
varying  grades  of  concrete  would  be  used  in  different 
portions  of  the  work, —  a  mixture  lean  in  cement  for 
underground  work  where  smooth  faces  and  the  action 
of  the  weather  can  be  disregarded ;  and  richer  mixtures 
for  other  portions  of  the  walls  where  strength  of 
concrete,  and  appearance  and  wearing  quality  of  the 
surfaces  are  important  considerations. 

My  estimate  is  based  on  the  use  of  the  following 
classes  of  concrete, — and  assumes  careful  mixing. 

(a)  For  concrete  in  mass  in  underground  work,  a 
mixture    measured    by    volumes    of    one    part 
cement,    to    four    parts    sand    and    eight   parts 
stone. 

(b)  For     concrete     above     ground, — large     masses, 
simple   forms,   little   reinforcement — a    mixture 
of  one  part  of  cement  to  three  of  sand  and  six 
of  stone. 

(c)  For  concrete  in  thin  walls,— arches,  etc.,  much 

reinforced,  and  for  facing  of  thick  walls, — a 
mixture  of  one  part  cement  to  two  of  sand  and 
four  of  stone. 

Concrete  Prices.— For  the  railroad  work,  in  building 
heavy  retaining  walls,  bridge  abutments,  etc.,  outside 
of  the  tunnel,  the  contract  price  for  concrete  was 
$5.50  per  cubic  yard,  the  cement  being  furnished  free  by 
the  Railroad  Company  and  the  contractor  supplying 
everything  else,  including  forms  for  the  stated  price. 

The  prices  used  in  my  estimate  are  deduced  from  the 
following : 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES.  95 

ESTIMATES  OF  UNIT  COSTS  FOR  CONCRETE. 

(a)     Concrete,    1:4:8     (in     foundations    below  ground  surface) 

Cement,    -  -    0.85  bbls.   @   $1.50    $1.28  per.  c.y. 

Sand.    -                0.48  cu.  yd.  @         .80     34  "  " 

Stone,    -          -    0.96  cu.  yd.  @       1.10 1.06  "  " 

Labor,  fuel,  etc.,  mixing  and  placing    65  "  '  ' 

Forms,  allowance  for  moving    .10  "  " 

Maintenance   and    50%    depreciation   of    equipment,  comprising  mixer  plant,  derricks, 

locomotives  and  cars   60  "  " 


$4.03 
Add    contractor's   profit,   15% .60 


Total   probable  cost  per   cu.   yd. $4.63      "      " 

To  make  safe  estimate,  say  $4.85  per  cubic  yard. 

(b)     Concrete,    1:3:6    (in    thick   walls   above    ground). 

Cement, — 1.11    bbls.    @    $1.50    $1.67    per    c.y. 

Sand,— 0.47  cu.  yd.   @   .80 38     "     " 

Stone,— 0.94  cu.   yd.    @   $1.10    1 . 03 

Labor,  fuel,  etc.,  mixing  and  placing   75      "      " 

Forms,  allowance  for  moving,  etc 15      "      " 

Maintenance  and  50%  depreciation  of  equipment,    comprising   mixer    plant,    derricks, 
locomotives,  and  cars   60     "      " 


$4.58 
Add  contractor's  profit,  15%    69 


Total  probable  cost  per  cubic  yard    $5.27      "      " 

To  make  safe  estimate,  say  $5.70  per  cubic  yard. 

(3)     Concrete,  1:2:4   (in  thin  walls,  reinforced,  etc.) 

'Cement,— 1.57  bbls.   @   $1.50    $2.36  per   c.y. 

Sand,— 0.44  cu.  yd.   @  $.80    35     "     " 

Stone,— 0.88  cu.  yd.   @  $1.10    97 

Labor,  fuel,  etc.,  mixing  and  placing 90     "     " 

Forms,   allowance  for  moving,   etc 35     "     " 

Maintenance  and  50%  depreciation  of  equipment,    comprising   mixer    plant,    derricks, 

locomotives    and    cars  .60     "" 


$5.53 
Add    contractor's    profit,    15%    83 


Total  probable  cost  per  cubic  yard   $6.36 

To  maks  safe  estimate,  say,  $7.00  per  cubic  yard. 


Note  that  1 :2 :4  concrete  for  facing  heavy  walls  covered  in  the  estimate  by  an  allowance  of  enough 

requires  no  forms  but  probably  will  entail  some  extra  lumber  to  cover  approximately  one-third  of  the  exposed 

work  for  placing,  hence  is  also  priced  at  $7.00  per  cubic  surfaces,  at  a  price  liberal  enough  to  include  cost  of 

yard.  carpenter  work,  bolts,  nails,  etc. 

Forms  for  Concrete. — The  material  and  labor  for  The  cost  of  setting  up  and  taking  down  the  forms 

forms  for  the  walls,  and  bridges,  including  a  special  has  been  included  in  the  unit  prices  for  the  concrete, 

item  for  the  centers  for  the  Prospect  Street  arch,  are  as  deduced  above. 


96 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


STREET  SURFACING. 

Roadway. — The  pavement  for  Roger  Williams  Street 
is  estimated  as  a  special  pavement  with  narrow  tar-and- 
gravel^filled  spaces  between  wooden  blocks,  laid  on  a 
thin  sand  cushion,  over  a  six-inch  concrete  foundation. 
The  less  important  side  streets,  like  Congdon,  Prospect, 
and  Brown,  are  estimated  as  repaired  and  finished  with 
Macadam  surface. 

Sidewalks  and  Curbs. — These  are  all  considered  as  of 
the  standard  granolithic  type. 

CHANGE  OF  GRADE  IN   POST   OFFICE 
SQUARE. 

The  bridge  construction  for  the  portion  of  Post  Office 
Square  overlying  the  river  consists  of  heavy  web 
girders  for  the  main  long  spans,  with  cross  floor  beams 
(also  web  girders),  supporting  I  beams.  The  spaces 
between  the  latter  are  closed  with  brick  arching  and 
leveled  off  with  concrete.  This  bridge  is  designed 
to  carry  a  uniformly  distributed  live  load  of  100  Ibs. 
per  sq.  ft.  and  a  concentrated  load  of  one  20-ton  road 
roller,  therefore  it  cannot  prudently  be  subjected  to  the 
additional  loading  of  one  to  three  feet  of  earth  nec- 
essary to  fill  up  to  the  new  grade.  It  is  proposed  to 
keep  the  load  on  the  bridge  floor  within  its  present 
limits  t>y  raising  the  structure  bodily  to  the  elevation 
and  slope  required  by  the  new  conditions.  The 
process  of  jacking  up  the  beams  is  a  simple  one  and  it 
is  believed  these  changes  can  be  made  without  trouble 
and  at  small  cost.  The  estimate  includes  an  item  for 
said  change  of  bridges. 

THE    CONGDON    STREET    DUMP. 

A  study  has  been  made  as  to  the  possibility  of  dis- 
posing of  the  entire  quantity  of  excess  excavation  from 
the  Roger  Williams  Street  work  on  a  convenient 
dumping  ground  on  the  west  side  of  Congdon  Street 
to  be  purchased  by  the  City  for  that  specific  purpose, 
but  subsequently  to  be  used  for  a  park.  I  find  that  on 
the  area  of  5.4  £cres  within  the  red  boundary  line 
shown  on  Sheet  G.,  comprising  all  lots  along  the  west 


side  of  Congdon  Street  between  the  Railroad  tunnel 
on  the  East  and  Bowen  Street  on  the  West,  and 
bounded  between  Congdon  Street  and  a  line  averaging 
about  100  feet  back  Easterly  from  Benefit  Street,  it 
will  be  possible  to  place  approximately  194,000  cu.  yds. 
of  loose  material,  if  mounded  up  as  shown  by  the 
cross-sections  of  Sheet  D.  This  is  exclusive  of  12  to 
18  inches  in  depth  of  selected  surfacing  soil.  To  hold 
this  quantity  of  material  a  retaining  wall  averaging 
10  to  12  feet  higli  would  be  required  on  the  south  and 
west  sides  of  the  dump. 

Plan  A,  Total  waste  estimated  as  131,000  cubic  yards. 

Plan  B,  Total  waste  estimated  as  145.000  cubic  yards. 

Plan  C,  Total  waste  estimated  as  195,000  cubic  yards. 

Plan  C,  Inclusive  of  deep  excavation  at  beginning  of 
Boston  Road  connecting  Roger  Williams 
St.,  with  Congdon  Street,  227,000  cubic  yards. 

It  is  obvious  therefore  that  all  the  waste  from  Plans 
A  and  B  can  easily  tie  taken  care  of  on  the  area 
provided,  and  that  if  desired  my  estimate  of  first  cost 
of  Roger  W'illiams  Street  might  be  somewhat  reduced 
by  providing  a  smaller  area  of  dumping  ground ;  or,  by 
what  would  probably  be  a  better  temporary  expedient, 
the  postponement  of  the  construction  of  the  retaining 
wall  which  has  been  included  at  an  estimated  cost  of 
nearly  $20,000.  One  reason  for  the  present  estimate 
A  exceeding  that  prepared  for  your  report  of  April 
8th,  is  that  a  larger  area  of  land  for  future  park 
purposes  has  now  been  assumed  occupied  for  dumping 
the  refuse  earth  and  rock  from  Roger  Williams  Street. 

When  the  time  comes  to  proceed  with  the  Boston 
Road  Proposition  the  32,000  and  more  cubic  yards  of 
waste  from  that  work  can  be  used  for  grading  the 
remaining  area  between  Bowen  and  Jenckes  Streets 
which  should  eventually  become  a  part  of  the  park. 

To  save  expense  in  the  future,  it  is  presumed  that 
attention  will  be  paid  to  depositing  the  waste  so  as  to 
conform  substantially  to  the  desired  layout  for  .the  park 
and  on  my  cross-sections  I  have  left  a  depression  at 
the  proposed  site  of  the  Greek  Theatre. 


97 


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ESTIMATE  OF  COST  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  STREET. 


101 


For  Grading,  Masonry,  Land  Damages,  Etc.,  Complete. 


4. 


@   lOc 

@  lOc 

@  20c 

@  40c..  . 


(b) 

(c) 

(d) 


(b) 
(c) 


(e) 

(f) 


ESTIMATE     A. 

For  Roger  Williams  St.,  only.  The  cuts  to  be  left  with  side  slopes  of  1  on  1%  instead  of 
walls,  wherever  feasible.  The  Congdon  St.  connection  graded  to  10.5%,  and  a  temporary  construction  road 
graded  20  ft.  wide  on  the  line  of  new  Boston  Road  as  far  as  Congdon  St.,  for  the  purpose  of  hauling  waste 
to  the  dump  on  the  site. 

1.  Embankment. 

(a)  Filling  on  streets,  allowance  above  cost  of    excavation     to     pay 

for  trestling,  etc 26,100  c.  y. 

(b)  Filling  for  parks,  sub-soil 200  c.  y. 

(c)  Reiill  behind  walls,  extra  for  high  walls  18,600  c.  y. 

(d)  Top  dressing  of  black  loam  stored  in  spoil  banks  and  rehandled  . .  .2,800  c.  y 

2.  Excavation. 

(a)     Earth  in  heavy  cuttings,  steam  shovel  work 102,200  .c.  y. 

Solid  rock  heavy  cuttings,  steam  shovel  work 57,400  c.  y. 

Foundation  and  sewer  trenches,  etc.,  earth  excavation    including 

refill    4,600  c.  y. 

Foundation    and    sewer    trenches,    etc.,    rock  excavation,    includ- 
ing  refdl 3,125  c.  y. 

Concrete  Masonry.     (Exclusive   of   lumber   and   labor  for  forms.) 

(a)     Underground   work  1 :4 :8    2,000  c.  y. 

Larger  masses  above  ground  with  simple  forms,  and  little  rein- 
forcement,   1:3:6    10,400  c.  y. 

Concrete  for  facing  of  'thick  walls,  1 :2  :4 840  c.  y. 

Thin     walls,     arches,     etc.     much     reinforced     and     ornamental 

work,   1 :2  :4    7,500  c.  y. 

Finishing   concrete   faces   of   walls,   etc 15,500  c.  y. 

Balustrades,  etc 2,400  In.  ft. 

Steel  for  Beams,  Reinforcing,  etc. 

(a)  Structural  Shapes  Fs,  t's,  L's '. 692,600  Ibs. 

(b)  Web  Girders    (erected)    296,200  libs. 

(c)  Columns    (erected)     59,500  Ibs. 

(d)  Twisted  Rods    (in  place)    376,600  Ibs. 

Street  Surfacing. 

(a)  Paving  roadway  (Wood  Blocks)   24,500  sq.  yd. 

(Macadam) 5,500  sq.  yd. 

(b)  Sidewalks    (Granolithic)     10,700  sq.  yd. 

(c)  Curb    (Concrete)     8,500  lin.  ft. 

Sewers  and  Drains. 

(a)  6"  drain  tile  for  wall  (in  place)    3,600  lin.  ft. 

(b)  15"  sewer  pipe  (in  place)    4,300  lin.  ft. 

(c)  Manholes  and  catch  basins,    50  ea. 

Water  and  Gas  Mains,  etc. 
(a)     Water  main  1,200  ft.  10-inch  pipe  @  $1.30  per  ft.    (includes  laying,  lead  and 

trenching) 

Gas  Main  1,200  ft.  6-inch  pipe  @  55c.  per  ft.,   (includes  cost  of  laying  and 

trenching)     

Lamp   posts    43    @  $50  ea 

Hydrants   (set)    6  @  $70  ea 

Miscellaneous. 

(a)     Iron  railing  (in  place)  420  lin.  ft.  @  $1.50   -. 

fb)     Lumber  for  forms,  etc.,  200,000   ft.  b.  m.   @  $40     

(c)  Seeding  and  sodding,  2  acres  @  $150   

(d)  Extra    work    raising   bridge    in    Post    Office  Square     


@     35c.     . 
@     85c. 

@  80c. 
@  $4.00 

@  $4.75 

@  5.70 
@  7.00 

@     7.00 
@     15c. 
@      1.50      . 

@  2J/2C. 
@  03c. 
@  03c: 
@  2%c. 

@  $3.50 
@  .70 
@  1,25 
@  .30 

@     15c. 
@     50c. 

@  $50.0U 


(b) 

(c) 
(d) 


yarn  but  not 
joints  but  not 


$2,610 
20 

3,720 
1,120 

35,770 
48,790 

3,680 
12,500 

9,500 

59,280 
5,880 

52,500 

2,325 

.    3,6iOO 

17,315 
8,885 
1,785 
8,475 

85,750 
3,850 

13,375 
2,550 

540 
2,150 
2,500 


1,560 

660 

2,150 

420 


630 
8,000 

300 
5,000 


$407,190 
61,080 
468,270 
684,600 


For    engineering,    legal    expenses,    employer's    liability  insurance,  interest,  etc.,  add   15%    

Total  for  Construction    

Land   damages   for   Roger   Williams   Street,   including  Arnold  Block,  etc.    (as  per  table   following) 
Land  damages  for  5.4  acres  of  dumping  ground  at  site  of  proposed  park,  at  50%  above  Assessors' 

appraisal    268,000 

Total    cost  of  Estimate  A.  (for  lands,  easements.da'mages,    structures    and    south    half   of    Park 
site    .          . .-. $1,430,870 


102      DATA    FOR    ESTIMATE    OF    LAND    DAMAGES    FOR    ROGER   WILLIAMS    STREET    ONLY 

PROJECT    A. 
EXCLUSIVE    OF    ADDITIONAL    GRADING    FOR    PARKING    THE    ADJACENT    LANDS. 


The  following  notes  and  computations  show  the  method  of  arriving  at  the  amount  to  be  paid  for  land 
damages,  particularly  in  the  cases  which  give  rise  to  consequential  damages,  such  as  where  parcels  of  land 
may  be  taken  only  in  part  or  where  easements  must  be  obtained  for  the  location  of  permanent  masonry  walls, 
the  grading  of  slopes,  etc.,  also  the  allowance  for  the  occupation  and  disturbance  of  portions  of  the  property 
during  the  period  of  construction. 

Data  for  Estimates. 

As' a  basis  for  estimating  property  values  where  only  portions  are  to  be  taken,  the  following  values 
given  by  Mr.  Burnham,  Tax  Assessor,  were  used  in  appraisal  of  neighboring  properties. 

Land  per  Sq.  Ft.          Improvements 

Charles   H.    Jefferds $3.75  $4,000 

School   of    Design,    1.60  60,000 

Imogene   Carr,    Other  lots 1.20 

Corner  lot 1.60 

First  Baptist  Church 1.75  av. 

Court    House, 1.50 

E.    F.    Arnold, 1.00  35,000 

S.  Side  Angell  St.  above  Court  House,  inside  lots, 80 

Sally    Francis .' ... 85  3,500 

Lyra  B.  Nickerson,  West  property, 1.00  5,200 

Lyra  B.  Nickerson,  Center  lot, 1.00 

Lyra  B.   Nickerson    (Cor.   Prospect), 1.30  5,000 

(East  Property), 

Rosa   Ann    Grosvenor 1.00  12,000 

R.  A.  &  W.  A.  Grosvenor,  vacant  lot,   1.25 

William    Grosvenor,     1.10  50,000 

E.  A.  &  M.  L.  Corliss 1.80  50,000 

Robert    Knight 1.10  20,000 

Louise   M.   Appleton 1.15  8,000 

On  Brown  St.  from  Angell  to  Olive,   1.15 

Congdon  St.,  Angell  to  Meeting 41  av. 

Meeting  to  Bowen,  45  av. 

Bowen  to  Jenckes,    East  Side        .43 

West  Side        .27 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


103 


SHEET    NOl  29. 


RELATIVE    POSITION  OF  THE    PROPOSED   LOCATION 
OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS     STREET  TO    THE  .LOT 
OF  THE  FIRST  BAPTIST  MEETING    HOUSE 


104 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


The  purpose  of  presenting  the  following  figures  is  to  permit  anyone  to  form  a  judgment  for  himself  as 
to  whether  the  entire  sum  of  $952,000  allowed  for  land  damages  for  Roger  Williams  Street  and  Overlook 
Park,  South  of  Bo-wen  Street,  is  a  reasonable  one,  and  to  show  that  the  matter  has  been  carefully  considered. 
Estimating  Basis  Used  for  Land  Damages. 

Where  an  entire  property  is  to  be  taken  an  allowance  has  been  made  equal  to  1%  times  the  Tax 
Assessors  value  for  1909.  Obviously,  in  applying  a  general  rule  like  this  the  result  in  individual  cases  will 
sometimes  be  much  too  high  and  in  other  cases  too  low. 

Where  only  part  of  an  estate  is  taken  or  where  consequential  damages  have  to  'be  considered,  the 
principal  matters  considered  in  rounding  up  the  estimate  are  given  in  the  table  following.  These  figures 
rest  upon  personal  judgment  and  if  one  will  note  the  ratio  of  the  sum  allowed  in  the  estimate  for  conse- 
quential damage  to  a  part,  to  the  Assessors'  valuation  for  the  whole  property,  particularly  in  those  cases 
where  the  residence  is  not  touched  by  the  new  structures,  the  conclusion  can  hardly  be  avoided  that  the 
following  estimate  is  in  some  cases  extravagantly  large,  as  compared  with  the  actual  damage. 

The  following  allowances  are  intended  to  be  sufficiently  liberal  on  the  average,  to  more  than  cover  the 
actual  damage  and  to  also  average  enough  in  excess  to  cover  the  probable  legal  expenses. 

The  occupancy,  whether  by  owner,  tenant,  or  as  a  boarding  house  has  been  noted  as  some  index  to 
the  important  matter  of  personal  disturbance.  .  This  information  as  to  occupancy  is  from  sources  believed 
to  be  accurate  but  may  in  some  cases  be  in  error,  and  is  of  course  subject  to  change. 


ESTIMATED  COST  OE  LAND  AND  CONSEQUENTIAL  DAMAGES 

for  the  Entire  Length  of  the  Proposed  East  Side  Approach  from  Post  Office  Square  200  Feet 

East  of  Brown  Street. 


ARNOLD  BLOCK  ESTATE. 

Occupies   land  from  Canul  Street  to  North  Main  Street. 

Old  style,  4  story,   brick   blocks.    Assessed   valuation 

year  1909,  $116,&10. 

All  taken  

For  cost  of  wrecking  in   addition   to   value  of  wreckage, 

allow,   say 


BEOKVV1TH  LAND  CO. 

Located  corner  Canal  and  Linard  Streets.  Old  style,  4 
story,  brick  block.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909,  $14,- 
280. 

Lowering  grade  of  streets  and  inconvenience  during  con- 
struction   

Curtailment  of  light  and  air  on  Liuard  Street  and  diver- 
sion of  some  travel,  all  of  very  little  consequence, 
but  say '- 

MOSES  B.  JENKINS  ESTATE. 

Located  on  North  side  of  friend  Street.  Old  style,  4  story 
brick  block;  2y2  story  old  frame  shop;  old  4  story  brick 
block.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  prop- 
erty, $44,580. 

Lowering  of  grade  of  streets  and  disturbance  to  business 
during  construction 

Reduction  of  light  and  air  on  Friend  Street,  and  diver- 
sion of  travel  and  business  from  the  two  corners,  say 

JOSEPH  BANIGAN  ESTATE. 

Located  corner  North  Main  and  Linard  Streets.    Old  2'/2 
story   frame   store.    Assessed  valuation   year  1909  for 
entire  property,  $9,540. 

Reduction  of  light  and  air  on  Linard  Street  and  diver- 
sion of  travel  and  business  and  some  disturbance  of 
business  due  to  construction... 


Consequential 

Damages  and 

Costs. 


CHAS.  H.  JEFFERDS.    (Total  area  approximately  8,500  sq.  ft.) 
Located  corner  North  Main  and  Waterman  Streets.    Cheap 
2  story  wood  and  brick  store.    Assessed  valuation  year 
1909  for  entire  property,  $34,640. 


Land,  Build- 
ings and  Legal 
Expenses. 


Total  Esti- 
mated Cost  to 
the  City. 


$4,000  00 


1,500  00 


1,000  00 


2,500  00 


2,000  00 
2,000  00 


4.000  00 


1,500  00 


$175,000  00 


No  land  taken 


$179,000  00 


2,500  00 


No  land  taken 


4.000  00 


1.500  00 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  USTI MATES. 


105 


uousequenuai 
Damages  and 
Costs. 

.ijana,  rsuna-         rotai  r.s 
ings  and  Legal    mated  Cos 
Expenses.              the  Cit; 

Land  taken  equals  1.4UO  sq.  ft.  or  about  J/e  of  whole  parcel. 
At  assessors'  valuation  this  is  rated  at  say  $3.75  pel 

Building,    assessed    valuation    equals    $4,000    of    which    y4 
equals  $1,000,   allow  double  this  or  say                     

Possible  Consequential  Damages:    Reduction  in  size  of  lot 

10,000  00 

Diversion   of   some   traffic   and    trade,   say  $200   per   year, 
worth  @  5  per  cent 

\  nnn  no 

Disturbance    of    business    and   inconvenience    during    con- 
struction                                                             -  

i  nod  on 

RHODE  ISLAND  SCHOOL  OI'1  DESIGN. 
Located    on    Waterman    Street.    Modern    brick   buildings. 
Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property,  $79,ti4U. 

5,000  00 

15,000  0 

70  sq. 

land  taken  at  N.  W.  Cor.  of  Lot,  @  $3.00  per  sq.  ft. 
Possiblc  additional  damages: 

Curtailment  of  light  in  basement 

Changes  of  area  ways  and  entrances 

Inconvenience  during  construction 


5,000  00 
1.000  00 
1,500  00 


Building  may  be  raised,  so  allow  instead. 


IMOGENE  CAKB. 

Located  corner  Benefit  and  Waterman  Streets.  1  modern 
3'/2  story  brick-front  residence,  1  modern  S'/i  story 
stone  and  brick  residence.  Assessed  valuation  year 
1909  for  entire  property,  $39,540. 

75  sq.  ft.  land  taken  at  N.  E.  corner,  @  $3 

Cutting  off  light  from  basement  of  brick  house 

Cutting  oil'  light  from  basement  corner  house 

Inconvenience  during  construction 


7,500  00 
10,000  00 


CHARITABLE  BAPTIST  SOCIETY. 

Located  from  North  Main  Street  to  Benefit  Street. 
Wooden  church,  stone  foundation.  Assessed  valuation 
year  1909  for  entire  property,  $112,820. 

Total  area,  approximately  50,000  sq.  ft.,  9,900  sq  ft.  (in  50  ft. 
strip)  land  taken  @  $1.75  assessed  value  (not  taxed) 
+.90 


3,500  00 
2,000  00 
2,000  00 

7,500  UO 


$2.65,  say  $3.00 

Reduction  in  area  of  lot,  impairs  value  of  remaining  % 
area  say  1-10  or 

Destruction  of  5  or  6  large  elms,  say 

Reduce  space  around  church  and  shut-in  effect,  say 

Occupation  of  land  and  inconvenience  during  construction 
Less  convenient  access  to  side  door..l 


CHARITABLE  BAPTIST  SOCIETY  PARSONAGE. 

Property  located  on  North  side  Angell  Street  3  story  mod- 
ern frame  residence  in  medium  condition.  Assessed 
valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property,  $15,000. 

Parsonage  still  has  entrance  available  from  Olive  Street 
and  building  could  be  moved  but  probably  better  for 
City  to  take  outright  or  utilize  in  Grosvenor  negotia- 
tions   

(Now  occupied  as  a  college  fraternity  house.) 

Cost  of  wrecking  building  (if  not  moved) 


7,000  00 
1,200  00 
5,000  00 
2,300  00 
1.000  00 

16,500  00 


200  00 


210  00 


10,210  00 


22500 


29,700  00 


7,725  00 


46,200  00 


Assumed  all 
taken 

22,500  00 


22,700  00 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


107 


•  Consequential       Land,  Build-    :     Total  Estl- 
Damages  and     ings  and  Legal  ;  mated  Cost  to 
Costs.  Expenses.  the  City. 


STATE  OP  RHODE  ISLAND. 

Court  House  situated  on  Benefit  Street  corner  Angell 
Street,  3  story  brick  and  granite  building.  Its  assessed 
valuation  year  1909  was  $54,480. 

All  land  is  to  be  taken  but  building  is  to  be  moved  to 
new  site  to  be  furnished  by  City 

For  inconvenience  and  loss  of  use  during  moving  and  re- 
pairs   . -. 

Cost  of  moving   building 


SARAH  C.  DURFEE. 

Located  on  South  side  of  Angell  Street  80  ft.  lot,  with  fine, 

3  story  brick  residence.    Its   assessed  valuation   year 

1909  was  $21,040.    (Occupied  by  owner.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of  wrecking   building 


HOWARD  I.  GARDNER. 

Located  on  South  side  of  Angell  Street  80  tt.  lot,  medium, 
V/2  story  frame  residence.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909 
lor  entire  property  was  $12,460.  (Occupied  by  owner.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of  wrecking   building 


ANNA  M.  MILLER. 

Property  located   South  side  of  Angell   Street  2y2  story 

frame  residence  in  medium  condition,  on  a  40  ft.  lot. 

Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property  $7,740. 

(Occupied  by  tenants  and  rooms  let.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  bunding 


R.  J.  WHIPPLE  &  M.  A.  FALES. 

Property  located  on  South  side  of  Angell  Street  3!/2  story 

frame  residence  in  medium  condition,  on  a  40  ft.  lot. 

Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property  $3.720. 

(Not  now  occupied  by  owners.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 


JAMES  R.  MURPHY. 

Property  located  on  South  side  of  Angell  Street,  old,  4 
story  brick  residence,  on  a  40  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valua- 
tion year  1909  for  entire  property,  $8,240.  (Called  "The 
Hope,"  a  large  rooming  house.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of  wrecking   building 


MART  L.  WARREN. 

Property  located  on  South  side  of  Angell  Street,  2-'/2  story 

frame  residence,  in  medium  condition,  on  a  60  ft.  lot. 

Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property  $10,000. 

(Occupied  by  owner.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of  wrecking   building 


ISABEL  A.  GRAHAM. 

Property  located  on  Southwest  corner  Angell  Street  and 
DeFoe  Place.  3  story  brick  residence,  in  medium  con- 
dition. Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  pro- 
perty, $13,400.  (Not  now  occupied  by  owner.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 


New  and 
better  site 
furnished 


5,000  00 
30,000  00 


500  00 


31,500  00 


35,000  00 


32,000  00 


200  00 


18,700  00 


200  00 


11,600  00 


300  00 


18,900  00 


11,800  00 


5,600  00 


5,900  00 


700  00 


12,400  00 


200  00 


15,100  00 


15,300  00 


500  00 


20,200  00 


20,700  00 


108 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


Consequential       Land,  Build-         Total  Esti- 
Damages  and     ings  and  Legal    mated  Cost  to 
Costs.  Expenses.  the  City. 


ALBERT  E.  HAM. 

Property  located  corner  Angell  and  Benefit  Streets.  4 
story  brick  residence,  in  fine  condition,  on  a  120  ft.  lot. 
Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property,  $18,200. 
None  of  this  property  will  be  taken.  It  will  be  bene- 
fltted  by  parking  of  area  now  included  in  Angell  Street. 
(Now  occupied  as  a  boarding  house.) 

JOSEPH  P.  CORY. 

Property  located  on  North  side  of  Angell  Street.  Mod- 
ern 2'/2  story  frame  residence,  on  a  40  ft.  lot.  Assessed 
valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property,  $12,340. 
None  of  this  property  will  be  taken.  The  parking  of  part 
on  border  of  Angell  Street  should  compensate  for  In- 
creased distance  to  new  street. 

ELIZA  AND  LAURA  COLLINS. 

Located  N.  W.  corner  Angell  and  Congdon  Streets,  old 
style,  2V4  story,  frame  residence  in  good  repair,  on  80 
ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909,  $7,920. 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of  wrecking   building 


N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  CO. 

Property  located  on  West  side  of  Congdon  Street.  2V4 
story  frame  residence  in  poor  condition,  on  60  ft.  lot. 
Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property,  $5,940. 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of   wrecking   building 


N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  CO. 

Property  located  N.  E.  corner  Angell  and  Congdon  Streets, 
3  story  frame  residence  in  medium  condition,  on  40  ft. 
lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909,  $11,320. 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 

RICHARD  C.  SANDERS. 

Property  located  on  North  side  of  Angell  Street.  2l/2  story 
frame  residence  in  poor  condition,  on  a  45  ft.  lot.  As- 
sessed valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property,  $4,600. 
(Occupied  by  owners.  Some  rooms  let.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of  wrecking   building 

N.  Y,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  CO. 

Property  located  on  North  side  of  Angell  Street.  Big  4 
story  frame  residence  in  medium  condition,  on  75-f 
ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  prop 
erty,  $15,060.  ("The  Oaks"  a  rooming  house.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 

EDWARD  F.  CHILD. 

Property  located  on  North  side  of  Angell  Street  2]/2  story 

frame   residence    in   medium   condition,    on   45   ft.   lot. 

Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property  $6,520. 

(Occupied  by  owner.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 

LYRA  B.  NICKERSON. 

Property  located  on  Northwest  corner  Angell  Street  and 
DeFoe  Place.  2'/2  story  frame  residence  in  medium  con- 
dition, on  a  37+  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909 
for  entire  property,  $6,500.  (Not  occupied  by  owner.) 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost   of  wrecking   building 


11,900  00 
300  00  12,200  00 


8,900  00 
300  00  9,200  00 


17.000  00 


300  00 


17,300  00 


6.900  00 


200  00 


7.100  00 


22,600  00 
400  00  23,000  00 


9.800  00 
200  00  10,000  00 


9,700  00 
200  00  9.900  00 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


109 


SALLY  FRANCIS. 

Property  located  on  Southeast  corner  Angell  Street  and 
DeFoe  Place.  3.  story  frame  residence  in  medium  con- 
dition, on  80  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909, 
$11.420.  (Not  occupied  by  owner.) 

Total  area  approximately  9,400  sq.  ft.  Land  taken  in  front 
2,900  sq.  ft.,  in  rear  400  sq.  ft.  equals  3,300  sq.  ft.,  as- 
sessed value  80c,  say  $1.25 

Area  of  lot  reduced  %  impairs  value  of  remainder  say  %, 
or  , 

House  reduced  %  in  size.    (Small  ell  cut  off) 

Moving  house  back  to  new  location,  incidental  repairs,  etc. 

Impairment  of  use  of  house  and  inconvenience  during 
construction  of  Roger  Williams  Street 

Poorer  access  .. 


(Note  that  this  allowance  exceeds  the  assessed  valuation 
but  leaves  the  residence  in  good  condition  and  pro- 
vides broader  access  in  rear.  It  would  probably  be 
better  to  take  entire  property.) 

LYRA  B.  NICKERSON.  (Occupied  by  owner.) 

Property  located  on  Southwest  corner  Angell  Street  and 
Prospect  Street.  One  2Vi  story  frame  residence  in 
medium  condition.  One  2%  story  frame  residence  in 
fine  condition,  on  120  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation, 
$25,380.  Total  area  approximately  14,400  sq.  ft.  Land 
taken  in  front  3,000  sq.  ft.,  in  rear  1,300  sq.  ft.,  equals 

4,300  sq.  ft.,  assessed  value,  $1.10,  say,  $1.65,  equals 

Moving  houses  to  new  locations,  incidental  repairs,  etc.. 

Loss  of  use  of  houses  and  inconvenience  during  work 

Poorer  access  Prospect   Street  house $500 

Poorer  access  other   house   1,500 

Area  of  lots  reduced  %  impairs  value  of  remainder,  say  % 
equals  


Consequential  I    Land,  Build-         Total  Esti- 
Damages  and     ings  and  Legal    mated  Cost  to 
Costs.  Expenses.  the  City. 


Total  allowance,  $19,700.  (Note  that  this  allowance  amounts 
to  nearly  %  of  the  assessed  value  but  leaves  the  two) 
residences  in  good  condition  and  that  improved  ac- 
cess is  given  in  rear  by  widening  alley.) 

ROSA  A.  GROSVENOB. 

Property  located  on  Northeast  corner  Angell  and  DeFoe 
Place.  Old  style,  2  story  frame  residence  in  medium 
condition.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire 
property,  $29,920.  (Occupied  by  owner.) 

Total  area  approximately  17,400  sq.  ft. 

Area  of  land  taken  1,800  sq.  ft.,  assessed  value  $1.00,  say 
$1.50  equals . 

Area  of  lot  reduced  1-10  impairs  value  of  remainder  say  0.0. 

Present  access  to  stable  destroyed  and  no  other  provided 

Access  to  house  and  land  rendered  extremely  inconvenient, 
except  over  adjoining  lot 

Making  frontage  on  Roger  Williams  Street  and  DeFoe 
Place  practically  useless,  reducing  value  of  remaining 
land  Va  or  

Temporary  use  of  ground  and  inconvenience  to  construc- 
tion and  easement  for  wall,  2,460  sq.  ft 


(Note  this  entire  property  is  now  taxed  on  an  assessed 
value  of  $29.920,  and  the  house  would  not  be  touched  by 
the  new  structures  or  street.)  The  allowance  is  61  per 
cent,  of  the  tax  assessors'  value. 


1,300  00 

500  00 

2,000  00 

2,200  00 
1,500  00 


7,500  00 


4,100  00 


2,800  00 
5.000  00 

2,000  00 
2.800  00 


7,100  00 


12,600  00 


2,000  00 
4,000  00 

6,000  00 
3,500  00 


15,500  00 


2,700  00 


11.600  00 


19.700  00 


18,200  00 


110 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


Consequential      Laud,  Build-        Total  Estl- 
Damages  and     ings  and  Legal    mated  Cost  to 
Costs.  Expenses.  the  City. 


WILLIAM  AND  ROSA  A.  GROSVENOK. 

Nearly  vacant  land  between  Prospect  Street  and  property 
listed  above,  55  foot  lot. 

Property  located  on  Northwest  corner  Angell  and  Pros- 
pect Streets.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909,  $9,640. 

Total  area  approximately  7,200  sq.  It. 

Area  of  land  taken  1,300  sq.  ft.,  assessed  value  $1.25  sq.  ft., 
say  $2.00 

Frontage  on  Roger  Williams  Street  made  inaccessible 

Area  of  lot  reduced  %  impairs  value  of  remainder,  say  1-10 

Poorer  access  to  Roger  Williams  Street,  say  worth  $100 
per  annum  @  5  per  cent,  equals 

Temporary  disturbance  and  use  of  grounds  and  casement 
for  wall 

Total  allowance  by  City:  $7,900,  which  is  82  per  cent  of  the 
present  tax  assessors'  valuation  for  the  entire  lot,  of 
$9,640. 

Note  this  vacant  land  lying  between  the  Rosa  Grosvenor 
House  and  Prospect  Street  could  be  utilized  to  provide 
an  excellent  entrance  at  grade  from  Prospect  Street 
to  the  Rosa  Grovesnor  residence. 

Considering  these  two  properties  combined  the  total  val- 
uation by  assessors  is  $39,560,  and  the  estimated  allow- 
ance is  $26,100.  and  the  buildings  untouched. 

WILLIAM  GROSVENOR  ESTATE. 

Property  located  on  Northeast  corner  Angell  and  Pros- 
pect Streets,  3  story  brick  residence  in  fine  condition, 
on  170  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire 
property,  $71,300.  (Occupied  by  owner.) 

Total  area  approximately  19,800  sq.  ft. 

Area  of  land  taken  3.700  sq.  ft.  Assessed  value  $1.10  per 
sq.  ft.,  or  say  (5>  $2.50 . 

Easement  for  wall  1,100  sq.  ft.  (o>  $1.00 

Impaired  access  to  Roger  Williams  Street  @  $200  per 
annum,  5  per  cent.  

Rights  below  surface  for  archway  3,000  sq.  ft   @  -$1.00 

88  ft.  or  nearly  one-half  the  frontage  of  Roger  Williams 
Street  is  made  useless,  impairing  the  value  of  that 
part  of  the  lot  6.000  sq.  ft.,  say  one-half 

Temporary  disturbances  due  to  construction 


House  untouched,  main  entrance  not  affected,  outlook  im- 
proved, noisy  street  car  turn  done  away  with.  Total 
allowance  about  40  per  cent,  of  assessed  value 


EMILY  A.  AND  M.  L.  CORLISS. 

Property  located  on  Southeast  corner  Angell  and  Prospect 
Streets.  3  story  brick  residence  in  fine  condition,  on 
160  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  prop- 
erty, $73.380.  (Occupied  bv  owner.) 

Total  area  approximately  19,200  sq.  ft. 

Aren  of  land  taken  50  sq.  ft.,  assessed  value  $1.20  sq.  ft.,  say 
$4.00  

Nearly  V2  or  80  sq.  ft.  of  frontage  on  Roger  Williams  Street 
is  made  unavailable.  Impairing  the  value  of  that  part 
of  the  lot  say  %,  or 

Poor  access  to  Roger  Williams  Street,  say  worth  $200  per 
annum  (5)  5  per  cent 

Rights  below  surface  for  archway,  1.600  sq.  ft.  @  $1.00  equals 

Temporary  disturbance  due  to  construction,  say 

Easement  for  wall__. 


Building  not  touched,  outlook  improved,  noisy  street  car 

curve  done  away  with. 
Total  allowance  about  27  per  cent,  on  assessors'  valuation. 


1,000  00 

800  00 

2,000  00 

1,500  00 


2,600  00 


3,600  00 


4,300  00 


9,200  00 


1,100  00 

4,000  00 
3.000  00 


3,700  00 
7,000  00 


18,500  00 


5,800  00 

•1.000  00 
1.600  00 
7,000  00 
1,200  00 


28,000  00 


200  00 


19,600  00 


19,800  00 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


Ill 


Consequential 

Damages  and 

Costs. 


Laud,  Build- 
ings and  Legal 
Expenses. 


Total  Esti- 
mated Cost  to 
the  City. 


GRACE  A.  GREENE. 

Property  located  on  South  side  of  Angell  Street.    2'/2  story 

frame  residence  in  medium  condition,  on  40  foot  lot. 

Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property  $7,120. 
Total  area  approximately  4,700  sq.  ft 
Assessed  value  of  land  $1.10  sq.  ft.    None  taken. 

Easement  for  wall  and  steps  600  sq.  ft.  @  $1.00 

Inferior    access    to    Roger    Williams    Street    at    $200    per 

annum 

(This  provides  for  impaired  land  which  will  be  left  25  feet 

above  Roger  Williams  Street.) 
Temporary  disturbance  due  to  construction ^ _ 


Note  that  this  allowance  for  impaired  access  exceeds  as- 
sessors' valuation.  (Better  for  City  to  acquire  entire 
property  or  include  in  Corliss  negotiations.) 

ROBERT  KNIGHT.  (House  formerly  occupied  by  Rev.  E.  S. 
Rousmaniere.  now  vacant  and  for  sale.) 

Property  located  on  South  side  of  Angell  Street.  3  storv 
brick  residence  in  good  condition  on  80  ft.  lot.  As- 
sessed vauation  year  1909  for  entire  property  $30,260. 

Total  area  approximately  9,400  sq.  ft. 

Assessed  value  of  land  per  sq.  ft.  $1.10. 

Easement  for  wall  and  steps.  1.100  sq.  ft.  @  $1.00 

Inferior  access  to  Roger  Williams  Street  at  $200  per  an- 
num   

Temporary  disturbances  due  to  construction 

Value  of  land  is  impaired  by  being  left  21  feet  above  Roger 
Williams  Street-. 


(House  not  touched,  allowance  for  impaired  access,  37  per 

cent.    Good  rear  access  at  grade  untouched.) 
Allowance  about  37  per    cent,  of  tax  assessors'  valuation. 

LOUISE  M.  APPLETON. 

Property  located  on  Southwest  corner  Angell  and  Brown 
Streets.  2%  story  brick  residence  in  medium  condition, 
on  120  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire 
property,  $24,140. 

(Now  or  recently  occupied  as  boarding  house.) 

Total  area  approximately  14,200  sq.  ft. 

Area  of  land  taken  1.200  sq.  ft.,  assessed  value  $1.15  per  sq. 
ft.,  say  @  $2.00 

Easement  for  wall  and  steps  800  sq.  ft.  @  $1.00 

Impaired  access  to  Roger  Williams  Street  @  $1.50  per  an- 
num, 5  per  cent.,  say 

Temporary  disturbance  due  to  construction 

Value  of  land  affected  by  being  left  11  ft.  higher  than 
Roger  Williams  Street  and  4  ft.  higher  than  Brown 
Street,  also  by  reducing  size  of  lot  about  1-7,  say 

House  not  touched  and  access  still  fairly  good,  outlook 
greatly  improved.  Allowance  about  40  per  cent,  of  tax 
assessors'  valuation. 

JOHN  H.  APPLETON. 

Tenant  property  located  on  North  side  of  Angell  Street. 
2  story  brick  residence  in  medium  condition,  on  60  ft. 
lot.    Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property 
$11,080. 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 


600  00 
4.000  00 

3.000  00 


No  land  taken 


7,600  00 


1,100  00 

4,000  00 
4,000  Of 

2,000  00 


7.600  00 


No  land  taken 


11,100  00 


800  00 

3.000  00 
2,000  00 


1,500  00 


2,400  00 


11,100  00 


7,300  00 


300  00 


9,700  00 


16,60000 


16,900  00 


112 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


Consequential 

Damages  and 

Costs. 


Land,  Build- 
ings and  Legal 
Expenses. 


Total  Esti- 
mated Cost  to 
the  City. 


ELIZA  A.  H.  GAMMELL. 

Tenant  property  located  on  North  side  Angell  Street.  2V4 
story  brick  and  frame  residence  in  medium  condition, 
on  60  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  lor  entire 
property,  $9,140. 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 


APARTMENT  HOUSE  CORPORATION. 

Property  located  on  Northwest  corner  Angell  Street  and 

Brown  Street.    New,  2  story,  frame  residence,  on  50  ft. 

lot.    Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property, 

$8,600. 

The  whole  of  this  property  to  be  taken 

Cost  of  wrecking  building 


CARRIQUE  LAND  CO. 

Property  located  on  Southeast  corner  Angell  and  Brown 
Streets.  2%  story  frame  residence  in  medium  condition, 
on  77+  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire 
property  $9.900. 

Total  area  approximately  8,900  sq.  ft. 
Area  of  land  taken  800  sq.  ft.,  assessed  value  $1.15  per  sq. 

ft.  or  say  @  $1.75 

Street  surface  is  depressed  an  average  of  2'+  by  this  prop- 
erty on  both  Angell  and  Brown  Streets.  Tlfe  damage 
will  be  slight,  but  allow 


HANNAH  M.  CAPRON. 

Property  located  on  Northeast  corner  Angell  and  Brown 
Streets.  2%  story  frame  residence,  in  fine  condition,  on 
110  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire 
property,  $22,400.  (Occupied  by  owner.) 

No  land  taken  but  street  will  be  lowered  an  average  of  2' 
on  Angell  and  3.5'  to  4'  on  Brown,  probably  necessitat- 
ing a  low  wall  on  property  line  on  Brown  Street  and 
some  regrading  on  Angell  and  Olive  Streets,  say— „. . 

This  property  would  receive  betterment  in  improved  out- 
look. 


SULLIVAN  INVESTMENT  CO. 

Property  located  on  Northwest  corner  Brown  and  Water- 
man Streets.  Residence  on  88+  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valua- 
tion year  1909  for  entire  property,  $27,720. 

Total  area  approximately  9,000  sq.  ft. 

Land  taken  1,450  sq.  ft.,  assessed  value  $1.15  per  sq.  ft.  or 
say  @  $1.75 

Street  slightly  depressed  but  no  material  damage  done... 


ESTHER  D.  HAMMOND. 

Property  located  on  Northeast  corner  Brown  nnd  Water- 
man Streets.  Residence  on  76+  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valua- 
tion year  1909  for  entire  property,  $27,860. 

Total  area  10,300  sq.  ft. 

Land  taken  1.020  sq.  ft.  assessed  value  $1.15  per  sq.  ft.  or 
say  @  $1.75 

Street  slightly  depressed  but  no  material  damage  done_-_ 


200  00 


13,700  00 


100  00 


1,500  00 


13,900  00 


12,900  00 


13,000  00 


1,400  00 


2,000  00 


2.900  00 


2,000  00 


2,500  00 


500  00 


1.800  00 


500  00 


3,000  00 


2,300  00 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


113 


Consequential 

Damages  and 

Costs. 


Land,  Build- 
ings and  Legal 
Expenses. 


Total  Esti- 
mated Cost  to 
the  Citv. 


SHELTER  FOR  COLORED  CHILDREN. 

Property  located  on  Northwest  corner  Brown  and  Olive 
Streets.  2y2  story  frame  residence  in  medium  condi- 
tion. Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property. 
$13,600. 

Total  area  11,100  sq.  ft.  No  land  taken,  but  Brown  Street 
will  be  lowered  an  average  of  3  feet  and  Olive  Street 
an  average  of  3  feet.  The  house  now  stands  about  7 
feet  higher  than  present  grade  of  Brown  Street. 

Some  grading  or  a  wall  on  property  line  will  be  necessary, 
say  

Also  some  damage  because  property  will  be  left  higher 
above  grade 


M.  M.  HOPPIN. 

Property  located  on  West  side  of  Brown  Street.  2'/2  story 
frame  residence  in  medium  condition,  on  40  ft.  lot.  As- 
sessed valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property,  $9,900. 

Due  to  lowering  Brown  Street  3  feet,  extra  work 

Impaired  value  of  property  which  is  already  4  feet  higher 
than  sidewalks... 


H.  S.  LISLE. 

Property  located  on  West  side  Brown  Street.  (Corner 
Meeting  Street.)  2%  story  frame  residence  in  medium 
condition,  on  60  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909 
for  entire  property,  $13.200. 

Walls,  etc.,  due  to  lowering  Brown  Street  3  feet 

Walls,  etc.,  due  to  lowering  Meeting  Street  3  feet 

Impaired  value  of  property  which  is  already  4  feet  higher 
than  sidewalk 

M.  O.  WEEDEN. 

Property  located  in  East  side  of  Brown  Street.  (Corner 
Olive  Street.)  3  story  frame  residence  in  good  condi- 
tion, on  98+  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909. 
$10.380. 

This  lot  is  now  lower  than  the  CL  grade  of  Brown  Street, 
so  that  a  cut  of  3  ft.  on  Brown  Street  will  not  materi- 
ally damage  it,  allow,  however 


H.  E.  COLE. 

Property  located  on  East  side  of  Brown  Street.  2V2  story 
frame  residence  in  good  condition,  on  43J-  ft.  lot.  As- 
sessed valuation  year  1909  for  entire  property.  $9.280. 

This  lot  is  now  lower  than  the  CL  grade  of  Brown  Street, 
so  that  a  cut  of  3  ft.  on  Brown  Street  will  not  materi- 
ally damage  It.  allow,  however 


L.  W.  WILLIAMS. 

Property  located  on  East  side  of  Brown  Street.  (Corner 
Meeting  Street.)  2V->  story  frame  residence  in  good  con- 
dition, on  57+  ft.  lot.  Assessed  valuation  year  1909 
$9.780. 

This  lot  Is  now  lower  than  the  CL  erade  of  Brown  Street. 
so  that  a  cut  of  3  ft.  on  Brown  Street  will  not  materi- 
ally damage  It,  allow,  however 

NORTH  O"P  MEETING  STREET. 

3  parcels  on  East  side  Brown  Street.  2  parcels  on  West 
side  Brown  Street,  private  residences.  Assessed  valua- 
tion year  1909  for  entire  property,  $33.360. 

Very  little  real  damage,  but  allow 


No  land  taken 


1,000  00 
1,000  00 


2,000  00 

500  00 
500  00 


2,000  00 


No  land  taken 


1,000  00 


500  00 
500  00 

700  00 


No  land  taken 


1.000  00 


1,700  00 


1,500  00 


500  00 


1,000  00 


2,500  00 


1,700  00 


No  land  taken 


1.500  00 


No  land  taken 


500  00 


No  land  taken 


No  land  taken 


1,000  00 


2.500  00 


114 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


Consequential 
Damages  and 
Costs. 

Land,  Build- 
ings and  Legal 
Expenses. 

Total  Esti- 
mated Cost  to 
the  City. 

E.  E.  ARNOLD. 
Located  on  Waterman  Street,  near  curve.    Lot   averages 
185  feet  on  Waterman  Street.    2M>  story  brick  residence 
in  tine  condition.    Assessed  valuation  year  1909  for  en- 
tire  property,   $29,000.    (Occupied  by   owner.) 
2,500+  sq.  ft.  of  land  will  be  taken  for  new  Court   House. 

5000  00 

5000  00 

(Property  would  be  benefltted  by   abatement   of  present 
automobile  nuisance,   due  noise   of  open  exhausts  u] 
the  steep  grade.) 

Total   allowance  for  land  taken   and  consequential  dam- 
ages  and  expenses  along  Roger  Williams   and  Browu 
Streets,   including  Arnold  Block         _  

$211,300  00 

$521,735  00 

$733,035  00 

Exclusive  of  land  for  dump  and  Overlook  Park,  but  including  the  whole  of  the  Durfee,  Gardner,  Miller, 
Whipple,  Murphy,  Warren,  Graham,  Collins,  Parsonage,  Gammell,  Froebel  School,  North  Appleton, 
North  Nickerson,  Child,  Collins  and  various  Railroad  lots. 

Note  the  large  number  of  instances  in  which  the  entire  lot  has  been  taken,  much  of  which  is  outside  the 
street  limits  and  could  either  be  used  for  parking  or  reserved  for  future  municipal  purposes,  or  could 
be  re-sold,  if  fee  title  to  whole  has  been  acquired.  If  sold,  the  salvage  on  land  may  be  reckoned  as 
follows: 


Surplus  sold  from  Whipple  &  Tales  land 

"         "      Murphy  land 

"     Warren  land 

"      Graham   land 

"         "      Collins  land 

"      N.  T.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  land 

"      Sanders   land 

"      Child   land 

"     Baptist   parsonage  land 

"     Appleton  land 

"  "         "     Gammell    land 

"         "  Apartment  House  Corporation. 

Which  would  reduce  above  estimate  to... 


$1,000  00 
1,000  00 
2,000  00 
3.000  00 
3,000  00 
14,000  00 
2.000  OU 
1,500  00 

aooo  oo 

3,000  00 
3,000  00 
2,000  00 

$38,500  00 

$694,535  00 

APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  OF  ESTIMATES. 


115 


LAND    TAKINGS    FOR    DUMP    AND    FUTURE  OVERLOOK  PARK  ON   WEST   SIDE  OF  CONG- 
DON   ST.,   SOUTH   OF  BOWEN   ST. 

The  following  includes  all  property  assessed  on  West  side  of  Congdon  Street  south  of  Bowen  Street 
and  easterly  from  a  line  averaging  about  100  feet  westerly  from  Benefit  Street  and  Southerly  to  the 
Railroad  Tunnel  location,  South  of  Meeting  Street,  also  land  at  Southerly  end  and  East  side  of  Congdon 
Street  (DeFoe  Place  to  Congdon  St.),  for  beginning  of  future  Boston  Road. 


Assessed 
Values. 

Estimated  Cost 
to  City  150 
Per  Cent. 

Consequential 
Damages. 

Land  for  passage  way  to  dump  and  for  the  South  end  of  the 
future  Boston  Road  along  DeFoe  Place  and  to  Congdon 
Street                                                                                        -  -  -- 

$24  100  000 

$36  150  00 

Land  between  Bowen  Street  and  Meeting  Street  as  follows: 
Bowen  Street  to  North  line  of  Prospect  Terrace, 
1     East  of  Wheaton  Street 

47080  00 

70620  00 

2  —  West  of  Wheaton  Street                     -          -  

9560  00 

14  340  00 

$6000  00 

North  line  Prospert  Terrace  to  South  Court  Street, 
1     East  of  Wheaton  Street 

21  720  00 

32580  00 

2  —  West  of  Wheaton  Street                                             

12  260  00 

18390  00 

6000  00 

South  Court  Street  to  Meeting  Street 

35900  00 

53850  00 

3000  00 

Meeting  Street  to  R   R.  T    of  w.                       .       -         

16  000  00 

24000  00 

3000  00 

Total   estimated  cost  of  land  and  damages  for  a   dumping 
ground    and    conversion   into   that   portion   of   Overlook 

$166,620  00 

$249,930  00 

$18,000  00 

estimate  of  Roger  Williams  Street    p    69 

18000  00 

$267,930  00 

NOTE:  The  above  does  not  include  any  items  for  lands  or  damages  upon  the  East  side  of  Congdon  Street, 
Northward  from  Meeting  Street,  since  these  would  receive  betterment  rather  than  injury,  but  is  in- 
tended to  include  everything  required  on  West  side  of  Congdon  Street. 


ADDITIONAL  LAND  TO   BE  ACQUIRED  NOW  OR  IN  FUTURE  FOR  COMPLETION  OF  OVER- 
LOOK PARK,  ON  WEST  SIDE  OF  CONGDON  ST.  NORTHERLY  TO  JENCKES  ST. 


JENCKES    STREET   TO    BOWEN    STREET. 

Values. 

to  City  150 
Per  Cent. 

Damages. 

Jenckes  Street  to  property  line  110  feet  North  of  center  line 
of  Lloyd  Avenue. 
1     East  of  Pratt  Street 

$40  620  00 

$60930  00 

2     West  of  Pratt  Street                                             

14,750  00 

22,130  00 

$5,000  00 

From  110  feet  North  of  center  line  of  Lloyd  Avenue  to  North 
side  of  Bowen  Street. 
1  —  East  of  Pratt  Street                                                   

34,180  00 

51,270  00 

2.  —  West  of  Pratt  Street  

7,060  00 

10,590  00 

8,000  00 

$96,610  00 

$144,920  00 
13  000  00 

$13,000  00 

$157.920  00 

Assessed 


.Estimated  Cost   Consequential 


116 


APPENDIX  No.  i.     DETAILS  ov  ESTIMATES. 


ESTIMATE  OF  COST  OF  LAND  AND  ROAD  BUILDING. 
OVERLOOK   PARK  COMPLETED   TO   JENCKES  STREET. 
BOSTON   ROAD   COMPLETED   TO   HOPE   STREET. 


Land- 


Additional  land  for  Overlook  Park  extension  fr  >m  Bowen  northerly  to  Jenckes 
street,  and  for  widening  Congdon  street  (not  including  land  necessary  for 
widening  Lloyd  avenue,  as  shown  on  Sheet  No.  20.)  Cost  estimated  as  per 

previous    page $157,920 

Additional  land  for  Boston  Road  northerly  from  Overlook   Park   to   Hope   street  . .         37,260 

Consequential    damages    chargeable    Boston    Road     25.000     $220.180 

Some  192,000  cu.  yds.  of  material  needed  for  completion  of  Overlook  Park  could 
be  obtained  by  maintaining  site  as  a  public  dump,  superintendence  for  which 
would  cost,  say  5.000 

$225,180 

Construction. 

Excavation    for    Boston    Road    southerly    end :   Earth  20,000  cu.  yds.  @  35c $7,000 

Rock,  8.000  cu.  yds.  @  85c , 6.800 

Concrete  retaining  walls  for  Overlook  Park  addition,  2,000  cu  yds.  @  $6.50   13.000 

Sub-soil   12"   deep  on   480,000   sq.   ft.=17,800   cu.     yds.   @   40c 7,120 

Black   loam  6"   deep   on  480,000  sq.   ft.=8,900  cu.yds.  @  60c 5,340 

Walks    (gravel),   6"   deep,   say   4,300   sq.  yds.   @  15c 645 

Seeding,  planting  trees,   bushes,   etc.,   say    7,500 

Boston  Koad. 

Macadam,  26,600  sq.  yds.  @  $1.00 26.600 

Walks  (granolithic) ,  6,360  sq.  yds.  @  $1.25   7,950 

Grass  strips,  3,990  sq.  yds.  @  15c 600 

Manholes,  catch  basins   (moving  same  and  new)     2,000 

Curbing,  7,210  lin.  ft.  @  30c 2.160 

Fill  to  raise  grade  of  streets  at  Hope  Reservoir  15,000  cu.  yds.  @  15c 2,250 

Retaining   wall    concrete    (at    Hope    Reservoir)   1 ,200  cu.  yds.  @  $7.50  9,000 

Retaining     wall     reinforcement,     6,000     1'bs.     @  2%     165         98,130 

Add    for   Engineering,    Employer's    Liability,    etc.    15%     $14,700 

Total  cost  of  extending  Overlook  Park  from  Bowen  to  Jenckes  streets  and  completion  of 

Boston   Road  to   Hope  street    $340,000 


Ari'K.vnix  No.  2. 


117 


NOTKS  ON  THE  PROBABLK  GF.OLOGIC  STRUCTURE  AND  NATURK 
OF  THE  BED  ROCK  IN  COLLEGE   HILL. 

By   Charles  W.    Brown. 


fr^ 


lypotheMca;    Geologic    StrutTure. 

Col*y    K.H  fc  n*  See'"*   Rirtr 


PROFILE  -FONES   AU-EI-MEDWAY   5T 

Verr,tal     ^crtlf       l.n.-loU 


PROBABLE  GEOLOGICAL    FORMATIONS  ALONG   PROPOSED   STREET   RAILWAY  TUNNCL  AND  SUBWAY. 


SKETCH       NOTES 

OF 
GEOLOGY 

b,  C  W  Blo.r 


May  9th,  1911. 

The  hill  is  made  up  of  varying  mixtures  of  carbon 
with  shales,  which  results  in  the  formation,  after 
folding  from  great  pressures,  of  carbonaceous  or 
graphitic  shales  and  schists  in  more  contorted  layers 
between  more  massive  ones  made  up  of  mud-stones  or 
shales  and  sandstones,  that  have  suffered  less. 

The  entire  hill  is  masked  just  above  'the  bed-rock 
with  from  five  to  eight  feet  of  till  or  boulder-clay, 
which  must  be  picked.  Above  this  till  or  hard-pan 
more  or  less  well-stratified  sands  and  gravels  are 
found.  These  latter  deposits  increase  in  'thickness 
toward  the  Seekonk  River  where  they  make  up  the 
terraces  there. 

The  difficulties  to  be  met  with  in  driving  a  tunnel 
through  College  Hill  are  two  in  number.  The  first 
one  is  the  structure  of  the  rock.  So  few  outcrops 
occur  on  the  surface  of  the  hill,  Cypress  Street  in  the 
Butler  Asylum  grounds,  and  at  East  George  St.,  that 
it  is  indeed  very  difficult  to  prognosticate  what  attitude 
the  rocks  will  assume  underground.  It  was  only 
during  the  construction  of  the  New  Haven  tunnel  that 
a  correct  idea  of  the  structure  was  gained.  Even 
then  the  knowledge  is  not  of  great  service  to  areas 
away  from  that  particular  locality,  for  this  tunnel 
proved  that  the  rock  was  seriously  disturbed ;  fractured, 
folded  and  altered,  and  that  changes  in  the  attitude  and 
nature  of  the  rock  were  liable  to  occur  within  a  few 
feet. 

In  general  a  tunnel  easterly  through  'the  hill,  would 
follow  roughly  the  major  strike  of  the  rock  cutting 
across  minor  plications  which  would  change  the  dip 
from  north  to  south  to  east  or  west  in  six  feet.  (See 
section  on  profile  map.)  In  general  the  rock  slopes 
gently  from  15-40°  northerly  to  near  Gano  Street, 
where  the  dip  changes  to  a  gentle  southerly  one. 

The  cause  of  so  much  disturbance  in  the  rock  may 
be  found  in  its  nature.  A  large  content  of  carbon 


from  decaying  vegetation  in  Carboniferous  times 
causes  the  rock  to  be  weakly  resistant  to  pressure  and 
it  yields  readily  and  becomes  highly  contorted,  even 
when  only  a  foot  thick  between  stronger,  more 
arenaceous  and  less  carbonaceous  sandstones  which 
have  been  folded  but  slightly.  The  tendency  to  slip 
where  the  graphitic  layers  occurred  was  noted  in  the 
construction  of  the  New  Haven  Tunnel.  If  a  tunnel 
be  driven  through  the  Fones  Alley  region,  it  would 
cross  just  over  the  old  tunnel  where  the  rocks  were 
very  weak  and  where  frequent  timbering  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  keep  the  roof  in  place.  At  Prospect 
Street,  although  where  the  roof  would  be  the  thickest, 
unusual  care  would  have  to  be  taken.  At  certain 
other  places,  indicated  on  the  profile  map,  there  are 
increasing  percentages  of  graphite,  which  makes  the 
rock  correspondingly  weak  and  also  allow  ground- 
water  to  enter.  From  Hope  St.  to  Governor  St.,  the 
rock  would  be  probably  quite  a  bit  harder  and  it  would 
be  less  difficulty  to  handle. 

In  the  Narragansett  Basin,  as  one  goes  upward 
stratigraphically,  the  sediments  become  coarser,  so  that 
we  might  reasonably  expect  the  rock  to  the  north  of  the 
old  line  of  the  tunnel  to  be  slightly  less  carbonaceous 
and  more  firm.  The  increase  of  growth  of  the 
population  also  will  be  greater  to  the  north. 

A  tunnel  through  the  foregoing  type  of  rock  is  not 
an  easy  proposition  at  'best,  as  it  was  proven  in  the 
case  of  the  New  Haven  tunnel.  The  glacial  trough 
down  through  Brook  Street  makes  rock  excavation  less, 
but  the  rock  on  either  side  is  consequently  more  rotten 
and  the  till  is  not  easy  to  handle.  The  hill-drainage 
there  may  also  be  a  difficulty.  It  is  probably  true 
that  as  one  goes  north  from  Manning  Street,  this 
trough  will  become  less  pronounced  and  shallower. 
From  Ives  Street  eastwardly,  the  bed-rock  probably 
slopes  steeply  down  to  the  river,  but  accurate  observa- 
tions and  estimates  are  impossible  on  account  of  the 
thick  layer  of  stratified  glaciofluvial  material. 


118 


SHEET  NO.  31. 


^-i 


SECTION  ON  C 


•J^*!    <a>iim^V 


JlTC    CLevATION   Or   STECU 


CROSS     SECTION 


SECTIONAL    ELEVATION  ON  b-B 


TWO-TRACK      STREET   CAR      SUBWAY 

OF    STflUCTUKXl.     STCE.L-    A.NO     CONCRCTC 
LLOW    UCAVATlONft   IN    EARTH   AND   MINIMUM  TuiCKNtM  OT  COV1R 
U5ECJ    IN   y*OI»»»   VUH-T   BY   BOSTOH  TRANSIT   COMMIMtON    l**s) 


SHCET   NO.  33 


ANQEUL         ST 

1  *««>:> 


HALF  SECTION  ON  B-B 


WATERMAN         ST 


PLAN 

Stale  hn  .50 fr 


SECTION  ON  A-A 

Looking  Cast 

icale  h«  -IflfT- 


SECTION   ON  «.  OF  MAIN   SUBWAY  -  TON^S  ALLEY 


^nrw^ct  SUBWAY  CONNECTKJN  WITH  SURFACE  STREETS 


APPENDIX  No.  3.  119 

ESTIMATK  OF  COST  OF  SUBWAY  FROM  THAYER  STREET  TO  RED  BRIDGE. 

(In  extension  of  proposed  tunnel.) 

As  per  plan  Sheet  No.  30. 

A  Rough  Preliminary  Estimate  of  Cost  of  Subway  and   Surface   Connections. 

As  will  be  noted  by  the  plan  connections  for  car,  to  and  from  the  Subway  to  Surface  tracks  are  pro 

vided  a't  Thayer  street  and  at  Elmgrove  avenue. 
Subway  stations  provided  at  Thayer  street  and   at  Gano   street. 

Additional  Work  West  of  Thayer  St.,  for  connection  to  College  Hill  Tunnel. 

Removal  of  some  of  proposed  tunnel  already  assumed  as  built  (not  including  removal 

in  rock  section  where  would  be  included  with  ledge),    say    $10,000 

Main  Tunnel. 

In  rock,  225  lin.  ft.  @  $210   47,250 

(Some  excavation  already  done.) 
In  earth,  shallow  cover,  225  lin.  ft.  @  $152   30,400 


Ramps. 


Branch  inclines,  520  lin.  ft.  @  $100   $52,000 

Extra  work  under  Churchill  House   5,000 

Thayer  St.,  special  structure  at  portal  for  branches     25,000     $173,650 


Subway  in  Sliallow  Cover,  along  Fones  Alley. 

Thayer  St.  Transfer  Station  in  subway  $38,000 

Thayer  to  Brook  St.,  365  lin.  ft.  @  $141  51,470 

Brook  to  Hope   St.,  590  lin.   ft.  @   $152  89,680 


Including    re-surfacing    streets    and   pipe    changes     179,150 

•^ 

Tunnel,  under  private  property. 

Hope  to  Ives  Street,  "Tunnel  B"  in  earth,  1,170  lin.    ft.    @    $260    $304,200        304,200 

Subway  in  Sh-allow  Cover,  along  Medway  Street. 

Ives  to  Gano  St.  in  earth  and  rock  including  re-surfacing  street  and  pipe  changes, 

610  lin.  ft.  @  $197  $120,170 

Gano  St.  transfer  station   25,000 

Gano  St.  to  Butler  Avenue,  including  re-surfacing  street  and  pipe  changes,  1,080 

lin.  ft.  @  $151  163,000 

Portal,  ramps,  depressing  tunnels,  etc 207,000        515,170 


Amount  forwarded  $1,172,170 

Amount  forwarded  $1,172,170 

Water-proofing  top  and  sides  of  subway  with  4-ply  felt  and  tar,  46,000  sq.  yds. 

@    $1.50,    $69,000     '. 69,000 

Open  Cut.   1390  lin   ft. 

Butler  Avenue  Portal,  Cor.  Butler  Ave.  and  Medway  St.,  to  Waterman  St.  (See  plan.) 

Excavation  earth  in  open  cut,  5,780  cu.  yds.  @   50c $2,890 

Concrete  -walls,   150  cu.  yds.   @  $7.00    1,050  3,940 


Waterman  Street  Widening. 

10-foot  additional  width  necessary  from  River  St.  to  650  ft.  west  of  same  for  change 
from  single  to  double  tracks  for  electric  cars. 

Re-setting  curb,   650  lin.   ft.  @  25c $160 

Re-surfacing  street,   repairing  gutter   and   catch  basin  changes  due  widening  Water- 
man Street   ' $1,500  1.660 


$1,246,770 
Add   for  Engineering,   Employer's  Liability,   Insurance,  Interest    and    Contingencies,    20%  249,350 


120 


APPENDIX  No.  3 — ESTIMATE  OF*COST  OF  SUBWAY. 


Land  Damages. 


Land   and    houses    purchased    $56,250 

Easements    and    consequential    damages    228,500 


(Estimated  on  the  lowest  reasonable  basis)    $284,750 

Examination  of  titles,  court  expenses,  2%   (excluding  counsel   fees)    5.695        290,445 


Total  exclusive  of  rock,  ballast,  car  tracks,  poles,  wires,   etc. 


$1.786,565 


With  contingencies,  legal  expenses  and   engineer  ing  the  cost  would  probably  reach 
at   least    


$2,000.000 

For  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  contingencies  on  tunnel  and  subway  work  are  vastly  greater  than 
in  surface  work. 

The  total  length  of  subway,  including  the  new  construction  from  450  feet  west  of  Thayer  St.  to  the 
East  side  of  Butler  Avenue  is  4,265  feet. 

The  length  of  open  approach  from  Butler  Avenue  to  River  Street  at  Red  Bridge  is  2,040  feet,  making  a 
total  of  6,305  feet  or  1.2  miles. 

The  average  cost  of  above  total  length  would  be,  at  $2,000,000  for  whole  cost  of  this  subway  for  street 
cars  only. 

Exclusive  of  land  and  damages,   Thayer   St.   to  Red   Bridge    $238  per  linear  foot 

Inclusive  317 

By  the  estimate  upon  the  following  page  it  will  be  seen  that  at  a  cost  of  about  half  a  mil- 
lion dollars  less  than  is  estimated  above  for  a  subway  for  street  cars  only,  there  could  be 
built  a  broad  boulevard  covering  the  greater  distance  from  Brown  Street  to  the  Red  Bridge 
along  Angell  Street,  which  would  serve  for  street  cars,  carriages,  automobiles,  pedestrians,  etc., 
and  with  its  broad  strips  of  grass,  shrubbery  and  trees  between  the  roadway  and  the  sidewalks 
would  add  to  the  permanent  embellishment  of  the  city. 


SHEET    NO.  M. 


SECTION   ON  tOF  MAN    8UBWY-  ME  D WAY  3T 

•*r-.t.»l     Soil     In  .    £0f 

Hor.XOnW   ^   <«  •   SOC 


SCCTION   ON  C-C 


SUBWAY  CONNECTION  WITH  SURfACE  STREETS. 


APPKNUIX  No.  4.  121 

ESTIMATE  OF  COST  OF  A  BROAD  BOULEVARD. 

FOR  THE  MAIN  LINE  OF  TRAVEL  TO  EAST  PROVI  DENCE  AND  CITIES  NORTH  AND  EAST. 

As  per  Sheet  No.  30  of  the  Drawing. 

Note  that  the  following  plan  also  provides  for  the  possible  gradual  acquisition  of  the  negro  settlement 
between  Meeting  street  and  Olive  street  and  for  opening  out  a  proper  vista  from  the  Wonians  College  and 
that  it  contemplates  the  ultimate  use  of  part  or  all  of  the  Dexter  Asylum  grounds  for  a  public  park. 

Extension  of  Roger  Williams  Street  to  Red  Bridge. 

Rough  preliminary,  estimate  of  cost  of  extension  from  Brown  Street  by  Boulevard  generally  160  feet 
wide,  as  per  plan  No.  30. 

It  is  assumed  that  the  total  width  of  160   feet  would  toe   distributed  as   follows: 

One  24-foot  car  reserve  in  center,  24  ft. 

Two  24-if oot  roadways,     • 48  ft. 

Two  32-foot  grass    strips    for   trees,   etc 64  ft. 

Two  13-foot  sidewalks,     24  ft. 


Making  a  total  width  of,   160  ft. 

The  total  length  is  about  6,500  feet,  or  1.2  miles. 

Boulevard  Brown   Street   to  Red  Bridge. 

Construction  Work.     (Note  that  the  change  of  grade  is  slight  the  work  being  mainly  due  to  increasing 
width   of   present    street.) 

Earth  excavation  and  disposal,  51,000  cu.  yds.  @  $1.00    $51,000 

Street  surfacing,  61,000  sq.  yds.  @  1.00   61.000 

Concrete  sidewalk,  15,500  sq.  yds.  @  $1.50   23,250 

Grass  strips,  41,300  sq.  yds.  @   15c 6,200 

Re-laying  some  water  pipes  and  building  manholes, 6.000 

Re-setting  curbing,   11,000   lin.   ft.   @  25c 2,750 

New  curbing,  11,300  lin.  ft.  @  65c 7,345 


$157,545 
For  engineering  and  contingencies  add  15% 23,600     $181,145 


Land    Damages. 


Land   and  Houses  purchased  @   50%   above  ass  essed   value    $1,054,300* 

Consequential    damages 51,900 

(Note   that    in    most    cases    the    whole    of    each  property   is  taken.) 

$1,106,200 
Add   for   examination   of   titles   court   expenses,  2%,   excluding   counsel   fees,    ....          22,100      1,128,300 


TOTAL    $1,309,445 

Change    of    grade    between    Diman    Place    and  Gano   Street  as   per  profile,   Sheet 
No.  30,  would  add  to  this: — 

13,000  yds.  excavation  (used  as  fill)  @  75c $9,750 

Re-surfacing  side  streets   and   necessary   changes  due  accommodation  to  new  grade  2.800 

Consequential  damages,   29,000       41.550 


Total  estimate  cost  for  land,  damages,  structures   and   street   rebuilding    $1,350,995 

The   land  damages   and   costs   for  both  subway  and   boulevard,   which   are  given   above  for  each   in   a 

single  item  have  been  estimated  in  detail,  lot  by  lot,  in  a   manner  similar  to  the  land  damage  estimates  pre- 
sented on  pages  104  to  113.  but  with  briefer  study   and  less  precision. 


122  APPENDIX    No.   5. 

Concerning  the  Feasibility  of  Transforming  the  Dexter  Asylum  Grounds  into  a  Public  Park. 


On  sheet  No.  30  of  the  drawings  the  suggestion  is  noted  that  these  grounds  may  at  some  future  time 
become  a  park  and  in  the  studies  for  selecting  the  best  location  for  the  main  East  Side  Approach  and  planning 
it  so  that  it  would  be  in  line  for  successive  steps  of  municipal  development  taken  from  time  to  time,  per- 
haps many  years  apart,  one  of  the  considerations  was  that  a  proper  park  development  should  follow  the  crea- 
tion of  main  arteries  of  travel. 

It  is  obvious  to  everybody  that  the  .perpetual  maintenance  of  a  poor  farm,  whose  area  is  chiefiy  devoted 
to  a  municipally-conducted  vegetable  garden,  by  hired  labor,  with  its  products  from  rent-free  land  sold  in  the 
market  in  competition  with  products  of  tax-paying  farmers,  is  an  anomaly  and  that  in  the  course  of  about 
ninety  years,  conditions  and  surrounding  have  come  to  pass  which  are  different  from  any  that  the  generous 
philanthropist  could  have  foreseen  when  he  donated  his  farm,  located  far  beyond  the  thickly  settled  limits  of 
the  town,  "for  the  use  and  accommodation  of  the  poor  of  said  town."  In  the  early  New  England  days  a 
"poor-farm''  was  an  adjunct  of  each  thrifty  town. 

The  writer  has  often  discussed  the  possibility  of  putting  this  property  to  a  higher  use,  and  has  found  a 
wide-spread  popular  notion  that  a  change  of  use  would  be  impossible  and  might  cause  the  property  to  revert 
to  the  heirs  of  the  donor. 

It  is  one  of  the  maxims  of  the  common  law  that  a  way  can  be  found  to  do  almost  anything  which  is 
fundamentally  right,  and  skilled  professional  assistance  was  invoked,  as  per  the  following  letters. 

It  must  -be  obvious  to  all,  that  the  objects  of  the  testator  in  providing  farm  life  for  the  unfortunate 
could  be  better  accomplished  on  some  new  site  farther  afield  and  more  ample  in  acreage,  and  that  the  "un- 
earned increment"  in  the  value  of  this  real  estate  could  perhaps  be  applied  better  than  at  present,  in  the  form 
if  interest  received  from  an  investment  in  productive  securities,  of  a  part  of  this  increase  in  the  value  of  the 
land.  If  one  reckons  interest  -on  value  of  plant  in  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  those  who  dwell  in  the  Dexter 
Asylum,  a  great  waste  becomes  apparent.  Double  or  treble  the  present  number  could  be  even  better  cared 
for  from  Mr.  Dexter's  bounty,  by  a  change  in  the  form  of  its  application. 

Before  deciding  on  the  removal  of  all  of  the  present  buildings,  careful  consideration  should  be  given  to 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Gorman's  suggestion  that  in  the  great  charities  of  the  Catholic  Church,  it  is  often  found  best 
to  maintain  the  buildings  in  the  midst  of  populous  communities,  lest  being  out  of  sight  they  be  out  of  mind, 
to  the  average  man. 

The  barns  and  piggeries  and  great  market  garden  surely  may  well  be  removed.  One-fourth  of  the 
present  area  would  suffice  for  housing  all,  but  then  they  would  not  have  the  interests  of  farm  life,  nor 
do  they  have  them  to-day  in  the  fullest  sense. 

By  changing  the  use  of  this  plot  of  ground  from  that  of  a  poor-farm  to  a  public  park,  comparable  with 
Boston  Common,  it  would  still  "ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  poor"  and  other  citizens  as  well,  and  by 
giving  it  the  name  of  "Eben  Dexter  Park,"  the  kinsmen  of  the  donor  would  be  assured  that  the  kindly 
memories  of  Mr.  Dexter  would  not  suffer  by  the  change.  Meanwhile,  whatever  the  City  expended  would  be 
simply  changed  from  one  pocket  to  the  other,  and  the  number  of  beneficiaries  greatly  increased  in  the  poor- 
farm  at  its  new  location.  J.  R.  F. 

OPINION  OF  CHARLES  E.   GORMAN  Esq. 

PROVIDENCE,   March  29,  1912.          in  manner  hereinafter  mentioned,  and  for  no  other  use 
D    j7  p  .  or  purpose   whatsoever.     Provided,   however,   and   this 

devise  is  upon  condition,  that  said  town  shall,  within 

PROVIDENCE,   R.   I.  nve  years  after  my  decease,  erect  a  building  or  build- 

My  DEAR  SIR:-  The  question  of  whether  the  lands  >f>8?  on  /aid  farm'  suitable  for  the  use  and  accommo- 
and  buildings  of  the  Dexter  Donation,  known  as  the  <ktion  °*  the  poor  o  said  town  and  shall,  under  their 
"Dexter  Asylum  Farm,"  can  be  acquired  by  sale  or  own  management  and  direction,  keep  and  maintain  the 
condemnation  for  park  purposes  which  you  have  asked,  same  for  that  sole  use  and  purpose  forever;  and  pro- 
I  answer  in  the  affirmative  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  vided,  also,  and  this  devise  is  upon  this  further  condi- 
farm  can  be  taken  for  anv  public  use,  upon  compensa-  tion  that  said  town  shall  within  twenty  years  after 
tion  therefor.  I  am  further  of  the  opinion  that  upon  my  decease  erect  all  around  upon  the  exterior  lines  of 
such  a  taking  the  compensation  awarded  would  belong  said  farm,  leaving,  however  suitable  passageways  into 
to  the  trustees  under  the  will  of  Mr.  Dexter,  to  hold  the  same  a  good  permanent  stone  wall,  at  leas  three 
in  trust  for  the  purposes  of  the  trust  created  by  his  %  jhu*  *  l^bottojn,  ^least  eigl,  t  feet  high, 

*  There  has  existed,  a  very  vague  idea  as  to  the  nature       stones,  and  as  thick  as  the  bottom  of  the  wall  and  sunk 
and   quality   of)  the  gift   made  by   Mr.    Dexter   and   it       two  feet  deep  in  the  ground.        hereby  authorize  said 

cr-rass-as  Ejtf  -ryysr 

clauses  of  his  will  and  are:  "EIGHTEENTH.     I  also  give,  grant,  devise,  and  bequeath 

"SEVENTEENTH.    Feeling   a    strong   attachment   to   my  to  the  aforesaid  town  of  Providence    in  f, 

native  town,  and  an  ardent  desire  to  ameliorate  the  con-  ever,  for  the  use  of  the  poor  of  said  town    as  here  n- 

dition  of  the  poor,  and  to  contribute  to  their  comfort  after  mentioned    all   the   rest,   rescue,   and 

and  relief,   I  give,  grant  and  devise  to   the  aforesaid  of  my  estate  both  real  and  personal,  not  herein  other- 

town  o    Providence    in  fee  simple  for  ever,  my  Neck  wise  disposed  of   the  sa.d  town  paying  thereout,  or  out 

Farm    in    said    Providence,     lying    southerly    of    the  of  the  rents,  profits  or  income  thereof,  at  their  discre- 

Friends'  Yearly   Meeting  School   estate,  together  with  tion,  the  annuit.es  aforesaid  ;  and   for  the  payment  of 


all   the   buildngs   thereo,   to   be   appropriated   to    the       which  said  annuities,  all  ^  "*" 
accommodation  and  support  of  the  poor  of  said  town,       to  said  town,  except  the  said  Neck  Farm  and  said 


APPENDIX   No.   5 — TRANSFORMING  DEXTER  ASYLUM  GROUNDS  INTO  A  PUBUC  PARK. 


123 


devised  for  a  Training  Field,  is  to  stand  charged  and 
chargeable.  And  I  do  hereby  give  said  town  full 
power  and  authority  to  sell,  if  they  judge  it  best,  the 
whole,  or  any  part  of  the  real  estate  herein  devised 
to  them,  Except  the  Neck  Farm,  and  the  •  said  lot 
devised  for  a  training  field  and  to  invest  the  proceeds 
of  the  sales  thereof  in  bank  or  other  stocks — the  whole 
of  said  property  and  estate  herein  devised  and 
bequeathed  to  said  town  to  be  kept  together  and  U> 
constitute  a  permanent  fund  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor 
of  said  town,  and  to  be  preserved  entire  for  ever;  and 
until  the  said  town  shall  have  erected  a  building  or 
buildings  on  said  Neck  Farm  in  the  manner  and  for  the 
purpose  as  is  hereinbefore  mentioned,  the  rents,  profits 
and  income  of  all  the  property  and  estate  herein  given 
and  devised  to  said  town,  including  the  rents,  profits 
and  income  of  said  Neck  Farm  to  be  added  to  said  per- 
manent fund  and  to  constitute  a  part  thereof;  and 
when  said  town  shall  have  so  erected  such  building  or 
buildings,  and  placed  the  same  in  suitable  condition 
and  under  proper  regulations  to  receive  the  poor  of 
said  town,  then  and  from  that  time,  all  the  rents,  profits 
and  income  of  all  the  property  and  estate  herein  given 
and  devised  to  said  town  including  the  rents,  profits 
and  income  of  said  Neck  Farm  to  be  applied  by  said 
town  to  the  support  and  maintenance  of  the  poor  of 
said  town,  in  such  way  and  manner  as  said  town  from 
time  to  time,  at  any  meeting  legally  holden,  shall  in 
their  discretion  direct,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose 
whatever;  provided,  however,  that  no  vote  of  any  town 
meeting  in  relation  to  any  part  or  portion  of  the  prop- 
erty or  estate  herein  devised  and  bequeathed  to  said 
town,  or  in  relation  to  the  management  of  the  same,  or 
of  the  rents,  profits,  or  income  thereof  shall  be  of  any 
force  or  effect,  unless  forty  freemen,  at  least  be  present 
at  the  time  of  passing  such  vote." 

The  nature  extent  and  purpose  of  the  gift  of  the 
Neck  Farm  now  the  Dexter  Asylum  Farm,  is  deter- 
minable  by  a  construction  of  clause  seventeen.  The 
devise  therein  is  to  trustees  for  a  public,  charitable  use, 
subject,  however,  to  two  conditions  subsequent  the  per- 
formance of  which  vests  the  farm  in  trustees  in  perpet- 
uity. These  conditions,  the  building  of  a  home  and  a 
wall,  were  performed,  and  the  legal  title  to  the  farm 
in  now  vested  in  the  trustees.  Legally  speaking,  the 
subject  of  the  devise  is  in  the  custody  of  a  court  in 
equity,  which  can  remove  and  appoint  trustees  and 
direct  the  care  and  management  of  the  corpus  of  the 
charitable  devise  and  permit  its  sale,  and  ever  direct 
its  sale,  upon  the  information  of  the  Attorney-General, 
under  some  circumstances. 

There  is  no  language  in  the  seventeenth  clause  or  in 
any  part  of  the  will,  expressing  a  prohibition  as  to  the 
sale  of  the  "Neck  Farm,"  or  from  which  an  intention 
of  that  kind  can  be  inferred. 

If  resort  is  had  to  the  eighteenth  clause,  which  may 
properly  be  done,  there  is  a  clearly  expressed  intention 
that  the  testator  did  not  anticipate  or  desire  that  the 
Neck  Farm  should  forever  wholly  be  occupied  for  a 
home  for  the  poor,  as  in  that  clause,  he  provides  that 
the  rentals  of  the  Neck  Farm  shall  constitute  a  part  of 
a  permanent  fund  with  the  income  from  the  estate 
devised  by  the  eighteenth  clause ;  the  income  of  which 
is  applicable  to  the  support  of  the  poor  of  the  town, 
without  restriction  as  to  place. 

Apart  from  a  construction  of  these  clauses,  it  is 
clear  that  the  estates  devised  by  them  constitute  public 
charitable  estates  and  are  subject  to  the  control  of 
courts  of  equity  and  also  to  legislative  control.  The 
Supreme  Court  of  the  state  as  well  as  that  of  the 
United  States,  have  both  defined  the  extent  of  the 


power  a  court  of  equity  and  a  state  have  in  respect  to 
such  estates. 

In  Brown  et  al  vs.  Meeting  Street  Baptist  Society, 
9  R.  I.  177,  being  a  bill  in  equity  by  trustees  for  leave 
to  sell  land  deeded  for  a  meeting  house  and  to  re-invest 
the  proceeds.  In  granting  the  prayer  the  court  speak- 
ing through  Durfee,  c.  j.,  said: 

"The  correct  doctrine  is,  we  suppose,  that  the  trus- 
tees have  the  power  when  the  interest  of  the  charity 
manifestly  requires,  to  alienate  the  charity  estate,  and 
that  the  court  is  called  upon  to  sanction  the  alienation, 
not  because  without  such  sanction  the  alienation  may 
not  be  valid,  but  because  without  such  sanction  it  is 
open  to  impeachment,  and  also  perhaps,  that  the  trus- 
tees may  have  the  benefit  of  the  advice  the  court, 
enlightened  by  its  inquiries,  can  so  properly  afford.'' 

This  view  is  entirely  consistent  with  the  remarks 
of  Lord  Brougbman  in.  the  case  of  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral vs.  Hungerford,  8  Bligh.  437,  to  the  effect  that  he 
could  not  conceive  a  case  where  the  trustees  would  not 
do  their  duty  to  the  charity,  if  they  did  not  alienate  a 
part  of  the  land  and  where  an  information  might  on 
principle,  well  be  maintained  against  them  to  do  that 
which  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  charity. 

That  a  state  legislature  can  authorize  the  sale  of 
lands  devised  for  a  charity  with  a  restriction  that  they 
shall  not  be  sold,  was  approved  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  in  Stanley  vs.  Colt,  5  Wall.  119.— 
Van  Home,  Petitioner,  18  R.  I.,  was  a  proceeding  in 
which  the  constitutionality  of  an  act  of  legislature 
authorizing  trustees  of  a  will  to  sell  land  devised  in 
perpetuity  for  a  parsonage.  The  court  upheld  the  act, 
saying : 

"The  primary  object  which  the  testator  had  in  view 
in  the  devise  of  his  mansion  house  and  lot  to  the  church 
and  society  was  to  provide  a  suitable  abode  for  the 
minister,  who  might  for  the  time  being  be  settled  over 
the  church.  We  cannot  forsee  that  with  the  lapse  of 
time  and  changes  incidental  to  human  affairs  the  prop- 
erty might  cease  to  be  useful  for  the  purpose  intended, 
and  therefore,  he  did  not  insert  in  his  will  a  power  to 
the  church  and  society  to  sell  and  convey  the  property 
so  held  in  trust,  and  to  re-invest  the  proceeds  in 
another  house  and  lot  better  adapted  to  the  use."  "The 
legislative  action  deprives  no  one  of  his  property,  but 
merely  divests  the  trusts  affecting  one  parcel  of  land, 
and  transfers  them  to  another  parcel,  better  adapted 
to  the  purpose  of  the  primary  trust." 

In  addition,  Section  11  of  Chapter  259,  of  the  General 
Laws  provides  for  the  sale  of  real  estate  held  in  trust, 
for  re-investment,  as  shall  "best  effect  the  objects  of 
the  trust." 

Sec.  28,  R.  I.  542. 

so  that  whenever  a  court  shall  determine  that  the  gen- 
eral and  primary  purposes  of  a  public  charitable  trust 
can  be  made  more  efficient  by  a  sale,  it  can  authorize  a 
sale,  providing  the  proceeds  shall  be  re-invested  in 
other  lands  or  securities  as  "will  best  effect  the  object 
of  the  trust." 

I  am    of  the  opinion, — 

First,  that  the  Neck  Farm  can  be  condemned  for  a 
park  or  other  public  purposes ; 

Second,  that  the  trustees  of  the  Dexter  Donation  can 
be  authorized  either  by  a  court  in  equity  or  by  an  act 
of  the  General  Assembly,  to  sell  said  farm  freed  from 
the  trusts  for  which  it  was  devised. 

Yours   truly, 
(Signed)     CHARLES  E.  GORMAN. 


124      Ai'Pi-Nurx   No.   5— TRANSFORMING  DI-XTKR  ASYLUM  GROUNDS  INTO  A  PUBLIC  PARK. 

OPINION   OF   EDWARDS  &   ANGELL 


April   10,   1912. 

Mr.  John   R.   Freeman, 

815    Grosvenor    Building, 
Providence,   Rhode   Island. 

Dear  Sir :  You  have  asked  our  opinion  as  to  whether 
the  land  now  occupied  by  the  Dexter  Asylum  can  be 
made  available  to  the  citizens  of  Providence  as  a  public 
park  (.1),  either  by  virtue  of  a  sale  authorized  by  a 
court  of  equity,  or  (2),  by  condemnation  proceedings 
on  the  part  of  the  City  or  State. 

This  land  is  now  held  by  the  City  of  Providence 
under  the  trusts  created  by  the  seventeenth  and  eigh- 
teenth clauses  of  the  will  of  Ebenezer  Knight  Dexter 
which  was  probated  August  30,  1824.  The  seven- 
teenth clause  provides  as  follows : 

"Seventeenth.       Feeling  a  stronge  attachment  to  my 
native  town,   and   an   ardent  desire   to   ameliorate   the 
condition  of  the  poor,  and  to  contribute  to  their  com- 
fort and  relief,  i  give,  grant  and  devise  to  the  aforesaid 
town  of  Providence,  in  fee  simple  for  ever,  my  Neck 
Farm,    in    said     Providence,    lying    southerly    of    the 
Friends'   Yearly   Meeting  School  estate,   together   with 
all   the   buildings   thereon,    to    be    appropriated   to    the 
accommodation  and  support  of  the  poor  of  said  town, 
in  manner  hereinafter  mentioned,  and  for  no  other  use 
or   purpose   whatever.       Provided,    however,   and    this 
devise  is  upon  condition,  that  said  town  shall,  within 
tive  years  alter  my  decease,  erect  a  building  or  buildings 
on  said  farm,  suitable  for  the  use  and  accommodation 
of  the  poor  of  said  town,  and  shall,  under  their  own 
management  and  direction,  keep  and  maintain  the  same 
for  that  sole  use  and  purpose  forever;  and  provided, 
also,   and   this   devise  is   upon   this    further   condition, 
that  said  town  shall  within  twenty  years  after  my  decease, 
erect  all  around  upon  the  exterior  lines  of  said  farm, 
leaving,  however,  suitable  passage  ways  into  the  same, 
a  good  permanent  stone  wall,  at  least  three  feet  thick 
at  the  bottom,  and  at  least  eight  feet  high,  and  to  be 
placed  upon  a   foundation   made  of  small  stones,   and 
as  thick  as  the  bottom  of  the  wall  and  sunk  two  feet 
deep   in   the  ground.       I   hereby  authorize   said   town, 
however,  to  exchange  at  any  time  before  the  building 
of  said  wall,  such  parts  of  said  farm  as  they  may  think 
best,    for    other   lands    adjoining,    for    the   purpose    of 
straightening   the   lines   of   said    farm,   or   throwing   it 
into  better  shape,  but  for  no  other  purpose." 

In  the  eighteenth  clause  the  testator  devised  the 
residue  of  his  estate  both  real  and  personal  to  the 
Town  of  Providence  "for  the  use  of  the  poor  of  said 
town,"  directing  that  "the  whole  of  said  property  and 

estate    herein    devised    and    bequeathed be   kept 

together  to  constitute  a  permanent  fund  for  the  beneiit 
of  the  poor  of  said  town,  and  (to)  be  preserved  entire 
forever."  The  testator  also  provided  that  "until  the 
said  town  shall  have  erected  a  building  or  buildings 
on  said  Neck  Farm  in  the  manner  and  for  the  purpose 
as  hereinbefore  mentioned,"  the  rents,  profits,  and 
income  of  all  the  estate  devised  should  be  added  to  the 
permanent  fund,  but  that  thereafter  "all  the  rents, 
profits  and  income  of  all  the  property  and  estate  herein 
given  and  devised  to  said  town,  including  the  rents, 
profits  and  income  of  said  Neck  Farm  (should)  be 
applied  by  said  town  to  the  support  and  maintenance 


of  the  poor  of  said  town,  in  such  way  and  manner  as 
said  town  from  time  to  time,  at  any  meeting  legally 
holden,  shall  in  their  discretion  direct,  and  for  no  other 
use  or  purpose  whatever."  The  town  is  also  given 
authority  "to  sell,  if  they  judge  it  best,  the  whole,  or 
any  part  of  the  real  estate  herein  devised  to  them, 
except  the  said  Neck  Farm"  and  another  parcel  of 
ground  devised  for  a  training  field. 

The  town  accepted  the  trust  conferred  by  the  will, 
erected  the  building  upon,  and  the  stone  wall  on  the 
exterior  lines  of  Neck  Farm,  and  has  since  been  and 
is  now  using  the  land  for  the  active  accommodation 
and  housing  of  the  poor  of  the  town.  At  the  time 
of  the  devise  Neck  Farm  was  surrounded  by  farming 
land;  now  it  lies  in  the  midst  of  the  residential  district 
of  the  East  side  of  Providence. 

The  stipulations  in  the  17th  clause  of  this  will,  made 
conditions  of  the  grant  of  Neck  Farm,  that  the  town 
shall  erect  a  building  suitable  for  the  use  and  accom- 
modation of  the  poor  "on  said  farm"  and  shall  "keep 
and  maintain  the  same  for  that  sole  use  and  purpose 
forever,''  and  that  it«hall  erect  a  formidable  "permanent 
stone  wall  all  around  upon  the  exterior  lines  of  said 
farm''  coupled  with  the  limited  power  of  "exchange " 
given  the  trustee  with  regard  to  portions  of  Neck  Farm, 
and  the  provisions  in  the  eighteenth  clause  by  which 
Neck  Farm  and  one  other  parcel  of  land  also  devised 
on'  trust,  are  expressly  excepted  from  the  operation  of 
an  otherwise  general  power  of  sale  conferred  upon  the 
trustee,  force  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  testator 
intended,  as  an  integral  part  of  his  scheme,  that  the 
particular  parcel  of  land  known  as  Neck  Farm  was  to 
be  permanently  and  actively  appropriated  to  the  accom- 
modation and  housing  of  the  poor  of  the  town,  and 
"for  no  other  use  or  purpose  whatever." 

Such  being  the  declared  intention  of  the  testator 
with  regard  to  the  use  of  Neck  Farm  it  follows  that  a 
court  of  equity  is  powerless  to  decree  either  that  the 
land  shall  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  devoted  to  the 
terms  of  the  trust,  or  that  the  land  itself  shall  be 
thenceforward  used  as  a  public  park,  unless  it  shall 
first  be  established  that,  owing  to  changed  conditions 
surrounding  the  gift,  the  original  intention  of  the 
testator  has  become  highly  impracticable  or  impossible 
of  fulfillment. 

Gen.  Laws  (1909)   Ch.  259,  Section  9. 
Pell  v.  Mercer,  14  R.  I.  412  (1884.) 
Jackson  v.  Phillips,  et  al,  14  Allen,  539. 
Cary  Library  v.  Bliss,  ct  al.,  151  Mass.  364   (1890) 
25   N.   E.   92.   6   Cyc.   961. 

Thus,  Gen.  Laws  (1909)  Ch.  259,  Section  9,  provides 
that, 

"In  all  cases  of  charitable  gifts  of  real  or  personal 
estate,  whether  by  deed  or  will,  where  the  purpose  of 
the  donor  cannot  be  literally  carried  into  effect,  a  bill 
in  equity  may  be  filed  for  a  cypres  application  of  the 
trust  property;  and  thereupon  all  such  proceedings, 
orders  and  decrees  shall  be  had  and  taken  in  said  suit, 
to  carry  out  the  intent  of  the  donor  as  near  as  may  be, 

that  such  charity  may  not  fail " 

This  statute  is  little  if  anything  more  than  a  legisla- 
tive statement  of  the  rule  laid  down  by  the  Rhode 
Island  court  in  Pell  T.  Mercer,  14  R.  I.  412  (1884). 
where  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Durfee  said,  page  436, 


APPENDIX   No.   5 — TRANSFORMING  DEXTER  ASYLUM  GROUNDS  INTO  A  PUBLIC  PARK.        125 


"And  again  in  the  case  of  a  trust  which  has  been 
long  in  existence,  if,  by  change  of  circumstances,  tV 
ceases  to  be  useful  according  to  its  original  intent,  it 
will  be  reapplied  either  wholly  or  in  part  to  some  new 
purpose,  as  nearly  like  to  the  old  as  possible.  This 
is  what  is  known  as  the  cypres  jurisdiction." 

So.  also  in  Jjckson  v.  Phillips,  et  al.  14  Allen,  539, 
(1867),  Mr.  Justice  Gray,  in  the  course  of  a  most  able 
opinion,  says,  page  591, 

"The  intention  of  the  testator  is  the  guide,  or,  in  the 
phrase  of  Lord  Coke,  the  lodestone,  of  the  court;  and 
therefore,  whenever  a  charitable  gift  can  be  admin- 
istered according  to  his  express  directions,  this  court, 
like  the  court  of  chancery  in  England,  is  not  at  liberty 
to  modify  it  upon  considerations  of  policy  or  conven- 
ience." 

Under  the  facts  as  we  know  them  we  apprehend 
grave  difficulty  in  proving  that  the  continued  use  of 
Neck  Farm  is  inimical  to  the  life  of  the  charity,  or 
that  the  intention  of  the  testator  with  regard  to  its 
use  as  an  abode  for  the  poor  of  the  town,  "cannot  be 
literally  carried  into  effect."  Tt  is  possible  to  show 
by  an  abundance  of  testimony  that  buildings  and  land 
fully  as  suitable  as  Neck  Farm  for  the  use  and  accom- 
modation of  the  poor  of  the  town,  and  of  much  less 
value  in  the  market  may  be  obtained  away  from  the 
residential  district  of  trie  city,  and  that  the  sale  of 
Neck  Farm  at  its  present  market  value  and  a  reinvest- 
ment of  the  proceeds  partly  in  endowment  and  partly 
in  a  less  valuable  but  equally  efficient  plant  would  be 
beneficial  to  the  trust.  This  is  not  in  our  opinion 
sufficient.  Such  evidence  shows  that  a  scheme  wiser 
than  that  inaugurated  by  the  testator  may  now  be 
devised.  It  does  not  show  that  his  scheme  has  failed 
nor  that  "the  purposes  of  the  donor  cannot  be  literally 
carried  into  effect." 

If  this  objection  be  successfully  surmounted,  it 
seems  to  us  that  a  court  of  equity  might  properly,  under 
the  cypres  doctrine,  decree  the  sale  of  the  land  now 
occupied  by  the  Asylum  for  its  present  value,  and 
apply  the  proceeds  to  the  purposes  named  in  the  trust 
created  by  the  will  on  the  ground  that  such  a  reappli- 
cation  would  "carry  out  the  intent  of  the  donor  as 
near  as  may  be." 

Gen.  Laws   (1909)   Ch.  259,  Section  9. 
Weeks  v.  Hobson,  et  al.  150  Mass..  377  (1890.) 

Because,  however,  of  the  difficulty  in  showing  that 
the  declared  purpose  of  the  testator  cannot  be  literally 
carried  into  effect,  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  a  resort 
to  the  court  of  equity  and  the  '  cypres  doctrine  for 
authority  to  sell  Neck  Farm  holds  out  slight  promise 
of  success.  We  might  also  note  in  passing,  that  a 
decree  of  the  court  even  though  in  favor  of  the  sale 
would  be  binding  only  upon  the  parties  to  the  suit, 
thus  necessitating  the  locating  and  service  of  all  of 
the  heirs  of  the  testator:  a  task  which,  on  account  of 
the  time  which  has  elaosed  since  his  death,  mieht 
prove  of  no  little  difficulty. 

We  are  of  the  opinion,  however,  that  the  State  Legis- 
lature may,  in  the  exercise  of  its  sovereign  power  of 
eminent  domain,  condemn  the  Dexter  Asylum 
grounds  for  park  purposes,  and  that  it  may  provide 
that  just  compensation  therefor  may  be  paid  either  by 
the  State  or  by  the  City  of  Providence. 

As  was  said  in  Shoemaker  v.  United  States,  147  U.  S. 
282  (1893),  page  297, 


"The  validity  of  the  legislative  acts  erecting  sucli 
parks,  and  providing  for  their  cost,  has  been  uniformly 
upheld,  (citing).  In  these  and  many  other  cases  it 
was,  either  directly  or  in  effect,  held  that  land  taken 
in  a  city,  for  public  parks  and  squares,  by  authority 
of  law,  Avhether  advantageous  to  the  public  for 
recreation,  health  or  business  is  taken  for  a  public 
use." 

And  the  recent  decision  in  this  State  sustaining  the 
constitutionality  of  the  metropolitan  park  law  neces- 
sarily finds  that  the  condemnation  of  land  for  public 
parks  is  a  taking  for  a  public  use. 

In  the  present  case  the  land  'to  be  taken  for  park 
purposes  is  already  dedicated  to  a  public  use.  This, 
however,  does  not  deprive  the  Legislature  of  its  power 
(Lewis  Eminent  Domain,  3d  eel.  Section  416),  and  lands 
held  under  charitable  trusts  may  be  condemned  for  a 
public  purpose.  (Trustees  of  Belfast  Academy  v. 
Salmond,  11  Me.  109.) 

Although  it  is  possible  for  the  State  to  delegate  this 
nower  of  condemnation  to  the  City  of  Providence,  we 
have  suggested  the  State  as  the  moving  party  to 
obviate  anv  embarrassment  that  might  arise  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  City  of  Providence  is  Trustee :  and  also 
to  remove  any  opportunity  for  any  claim  on  the  part 
of  the  heirs  at  law  of  the  testator  that  the  Trustee 
had  forfeited  the  estate  by  voluntarily  breaching  its 
agreement. 

Assuming  that  the  land  formerly  known  as  Neck 
Farm  is  condemned  for  park  purposes,  in  the  manner 
suggested  above,  it  is  obvious  that  the  Trustee  will  be 
unable  to  continue  the  maintenance  of  the  building  on 
that  land  for  the  use  of  the  poor  as  directed  in  the 
seventeenth  clause  of  the  will,  and  the  question  immed- 
iately arises  as  to  whether  this  impossibility  to  comply 
with  the  terms  of  the  devise  could  work  a  forfeiture  in 
favor  of  any  of  the  testator's  heirs  at  law.  .  • 

So  far  as  this  question  involves  any  right  on  the 
part  of  the  heirs  to  re-enter  on  the  land,  itself,  there 
is  no  difficulty  in  answering  in  the  negative,  since  the 
power  of  eminent  domain  is  as  efficacious  in  extinguish- 
ing any  right  of  possession  on  the  part  of  the  heirs,  as 
on  the  part  of  the  trustee. 

Would  such  a  deviation  from  the  stipulations  in  the 
seventeenth  clause  permit  the  heirs  to  claim  the  pro- 
ceeds arising  from  the  condemnation  of  the  land  on 
the  theory  that  the  land  had  become  subject  to  for- 
feiture by  breach  of  trust,  and  that  the  proceeds  of 
the  condemnation  should  therefore  be  paid  to  them? 
We  think  not.  The  failure  on  the  part  of  the  trustee 
to  keep  and  maintain  the  building  at  the  place  specified 
in  the  devise  would  have  arisen,  .not  from  any  fault 
on  its  part  but  because  a  change  in  the  circumstances 
surrounding  the  trust  had  made  a  literal  execution  of 
the  testator's  particular  purpose  impossible.  And  as 
heretofore  stated  in  this  opinion,  a  Court  of  Equity 
has  ample  power  under  such  circumstances  to  make  a 
cypres  application  of  the  trust  property  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preventing  its  failure  or  forfeiture,  and  will 
upon  bill  filed,  revise  the  terms  of  the  original  trust 
to  the  end  that  the  general  purpose  of  the  donor  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  poor  of  the  town,  may 
be  legally  continued  under  these  new  circumstances 
[Gen.  Laws  (1909)  Ch.  259.  Section  9:  Brown.  Trustee 
r.  Meeting  Street  Baptist  Society,  9  R.  I.  177  (1869)  ; 
Weeks  7'.' Hobson.  et  al.  150  Mass.  377  (1S90.)  1 

Moreover,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that,  while 
the  use  of  the  words  "Provided"  and  "on  condition" 


126      APPENDIX   No.   5 — TRANSFORMING  DEXTER  ASYLUM  GROUNDS  INTO  A  PUBLIC  PARK. 


are  words  often  employed  when  the  creation  of  a 
condition  subsequent  is  intended,  nevertheless  in 
grants  and  devises  of  property  for  charitable  uses, 
every  intendment  is  against  such  a  construction. 
(Brown,  Trustee  v.  Meeting  Street  Baptist  Society, 
9  R.  I.  177  (1869)  ;  Stanley  v.  Colt,  5  Wall  (U.  S.)  119, 
(1866)  ;  Sohier  v.  Trinity  Church,  109  Mass.  1  (1871)  ; 
Neely  v.  Hoskins,  84  Me.  386  (1892),  24  Atl.  882.) 

The  matter  is  solely  one  of  the  testator's  intention 
as  it  appears  from  the  whole  devise.  Did  he  intend 
that  the  negligence  or  refusal  on  the  part  of  the 
trustee  to  maintain  the  building  on  Neck  Farm  should 
operate  to  withdraw  his  entire  gift  from  the  service 
of  the  poor  in  favor  of  his  heirs  at  law,  or  did  he  make 
that  provision  to  the  end  merely  that  a  Court  of  Equity 
might  compel  the  trustee  to  so  maintain  the  building  in 
the  absence  of  legal  excuse  for  its  failure  so  to  do? 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  significant  omission  from 
this  devise  of  the  customary  forfeiture  clause  in  favor 
of  the  heirs  at  law,  and  the  strongly  avowed  desire  of 


the  testator  to  permanently  devote  his  property  includ- 
ing the  residue  thereof  in  aid  of  the  poor  of  his  native 
town,  are  sufficient  indications  of  an  intention  that  the 
perpetual  continuance  of  the  building  on  Neck  Farm 
was  not  a  condition  subsequent,  the  breach  of  which 
would  withdraw  the  entire  devise  from  the  accom- 
plishment of  a  purpose  so  earnestly  desired  by  the 
testator. 

We  are  of  the  opinion,  therefore,  that  with  the  aid  of 
the  State  Legislature  in  the  exercise  of  its  power  of 
eminent  domain,  it  is  possible  to  make  the  land  now 
occupied  by  Dexter  Asylum  available  to  the  Citizens 
of  Providence  as  a  public  park  and  that  in  no  event 
would  the  condemnation  of  the  land  involve  any 
forfeiture  either  of  it  or  of  the  compensation  received 
therefor  to  the  testator's  heirs  at  law. 

Very   truly   yours, 
EDWARDS  &  ANGELL. 


APPENDIX. 


127 


Jan.   19,   1913. 
D.  F.  Sherman,  Esq., 
Vice   President   Rhode   Island   Company, 
Providence,  R.  I. 

Dear  Sir: — Early  in  October  last  the  City  Council, 
taking  action  on  plans  for  a  tunnel  for  street  cars  only 
from  North  Main  street  to  Thayer  street,  as  presented, 
according  to  its  instructions,  by  the  Commission  on 
East  Side  Approach,  officially  approved  the  same,  and 
directed  the  said  Commission  "as  soon  as  may  be  to 
consider  the  best  steps  to  be  taken  to  secure  the  build- 
ing of  such  tunnel  and  approaches  and  'the  track 
changes  incident  thereto,  and  the  operation  thereof, 
and  to  report  its  recommendations  as  to  the  same  in 
print  or  otherwise  to  either  branch  of  the  City 
Council." 

Pursuant  to  the  above  instructions,  the  said  Com- 
mission has  authorized  and  directed  me  to  present  for 
the  consideration  of  your  company  a  proposition, 
herewith  enclosed,  involving  the  construction  and  oper- 
ation of  such  a  tunnel,  according  to  the  said  plans 
approved  by  the  City  Council. 

The  proposition  herewith  made  to  your  company  is  in 
substance  along  the  lines  of  a  draft  act,  a  printed  copy 
of  which  is  herewith  submitted,  which  was  previously 
considered  by  your  company  and  the  legal  representa- 
tives of  the  City,  with  certain  revisions,  as  indicated  in 
the  accompanying  typewritten  enclosure. 

I  am  directed  by  the  Commission  to  report  that  the 
matter  be  taken  up  immmediately  by  your  company, 
and  that  you  report  in  writing  thereon  to  the  Com- 
mission at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  in  order  to 
facilitate  any  Legislative  action  during  the  present 
Assembly  session  which  may  be  necessary  in  the 
premises. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

HENRY    FLETCHER, 

Chairman 

Commission  on  East 
Side  Approach. 


Present  plan  of  East  Side  tunnel  to  be  built  at 
expense  of  the  Company,  or  of  its  lessee,  The  Rhode 
Island  Company,  with  the  right  of  City  to  purchase 
same  at  cost,  in  which  event  such  Company,  or  its 
successors  in  interest,  to  lease  the  same,  and  the  track 
changes  and  incidental  terms  substantially  as  formerly 
agreed  upon  with  reference  to  the  previous  tunnel 
plan ;  except  the  work  to  be  begun  within  one  year 
from  the  date  of  the  franchise  and  to  be  finished  and 
the  tunnel  operated  as  soon  as  practicable,  but  not  later 
than  three  years  from  the  date  of  the  franchise ;  and 
except  the  term  of  any  such  lease  to  be  for  twenty 
years,  but  not  exceeding  or  continuing  beyond  the  end 
of  the  term  of  any  then  existing  exclusive  franchise 
of  the  Union  Railroad  Company,  The  Rhode  Island 
Company  lessee,  its  successors  or  assigns,  in  the  streets 
of  the  City  adjoining  the  ends  or  approaches  of  the 
tunnel ;  and  except  the  matter  of  paying  or  distributing 
the  cost  of  the  approach  from  Canal  street  to  North 
Main  street  be  left  for  further  consideration. 


APPENDIX. 

PROPOSAL  OF  THE  RHODE  ISLAND  COMPANY  SUBMITTED 
TO  THE  MAYOR  AND  TO  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  EAST 
SIDE  APPROACH  AT  ITS  SESSION  AT  MAYOR'S  OFFICE, 
WEDNESDAY,  FEB.  19,  9 :30  A.  M. 

Hon.  Henry  Fletcher, 
Chairman  Commission  East  Side  Approach, 

Dgar  Sir: — "We  acknowledge  yours  of  the  19th  ult. 
concerning  the  matter  of  providing  a  more  safe  and 
rapid  railway  transit  between  the  center  and  the  east 
side  of  .the  city  of  Providence,  and  in  reply  thereto  and 
in  connection  with  the  recent  conference  with  your 
committee  relative  to  an  early  consummation  of  this 
.  much  needed  improvement,  would  say: 

"The  Rhode  Island  Company  will  build  and  pay  the 
entire  cost  of  the  proposed  East  Side  tunnel  and  its 
approaches  between  the  easterly  line  of  North  Main 
street  and  the  westerly  line  of  Thayer  street,  to  be 
constructed  substantially  as  planned  and  designed  for 
the  city  by  City  Engineer  Otis  F.  Clapp,  such  cost  to 
include  the  roadways  beside  the  location  in  Fones  alley, 
near  and  to  Thayer  street,  as  shown  in  said  plans,  but 
not  to  include  the  expense  of  the  extension  of  Water- 
man street  from  North  Main  street  to  Canal -street. 

"In  order,  however,  that  such  a  large  capital  expendi- 
ture may  be  warranted,  it  is  conditioned  that  the 
exclusive  rights  of  this  company  and  of  its  lessor 
companies  to  operate  their  street  railways  in  Provi- 
dence shall  be  manifested  through  a  mutually  accepta- 
ble 20-year  agreement  (concerning  which  tentative 
proposals  from  the  city  are  now  under  consideration) 
with  the  understanding  that  the  company  and  its  lessor 
companies  shall  remain  undisturbed  in  the  conduct  of 
their  business  under  their  present  rights,  pending  such 
an  agreement. 

"The  company  will  commence  the  work  within  any 
reasonable  time  desired  and  complete  it  at  as  early  date 
as  practicable,  the  tunnel  when  completed  to  be  the 
property  of  the  company,  the  city,  however,  to  have  the 
right  at  any  time  upon  one  year's  previous  notice  in 
writing,  to  purchase  said  tunnel,  with  the  tracks  and 
appurtenances,  upon  paying  said  entire  cost  thereof, 
and  in  case  of  such  purchase  the  city  forthwith  shall 
lease  the  said  property  purchased  to  this  company,  its 
lessors  and  successors  in  interest  at  an  annual  rental 
to  'be  agreed  upon  'between  the  parties  for  the  exclu- 
sive use  by  this  company,  its  lessors  and  successors 
in  interest  for  so  long  as  it  and  they  have  the  exclu- 
ive  right  to  maintain,  use  and  operate  their  railways 
as  now  or  hereafter  located  and  constructed  in  the 
city  of  Providence;  and  upon  the  termination  of  such 
lease  in  such  manner,  this  company,  its  lessors  and 
successors  in  interest  shall  have  the  privilege  to  use 
such  tunnel  upon  terms  to  be  agreed  upon  for  so  long 
as  it  and  they  have  any  right  to  operate  street  rail- 
ways in  the  city. 

"The  Rhode  Island  Company,  by  its  above  proposal, 
will  co-operate  with  the  city  in  the  construction  of  a 
tunnel,  and,  while  the  company  will  abide  by  the  decis- 
ion of  the  city  in  the  matter,  its  management  has  a' 
strong  preference  for  an  open,  easy  grade  street  up  the 
hill,  feeling  that  the  East  Side  district,  particularly  on 
the  crest  of  the  hill,  would  thus  be  better  served,  and 
the  crossing  at  grade  on  North  Main  and  Canal  streets 
would  be  avoided.  Assistance  to  other  vehicles  than 
street  cars  would  be  offered,  and,  as  a  whole,  the  prob- 


128 


APPENDIX. 


lem  would  be  more  completely  solved.  Therefore,  the 
following  alternative  propositions  are  offered  for  con- 
sideration. 

"If  the  city  will  construct  an  East  Side  approach,  so- 
called,  substantially  in  accordance  with  the  plans  and 
designs  prepared  for  the  city  by  John  R.  Freeman: 

"(a)  The  Rhode  Island  Company,  its  lessors  and 
successors  in  interest,  will  make  an  annual  rental  pay- 
ment of  $30,000  to  the  city  for  the  exclusive  right  to 
lay  tracks  with  necessary  appurtenences  and  to  operate 
a  railway  upon  such  approach  for  so  long  as  it  and  they 
have  the  exclusive  right  to  maintain,  use  and  operate 
their  railways  as  now  or  hereafter  located  and  con- 
structed in  the  city  of  Providence,  and  upon  the  ter- 
mination in  any  way  of  such  exclusive  rights,  the 
company,  its  lessors  and  successors  in  interest,  to  have 
the  privilege  to  use  such  approach  upon  terms  to  be 
agreed  upon  for  so  long  as  it  and  they  have  any  right 
to  operate  street  railways  in  the  city  of  Providence — or 

"(b)  The  Rhode  Island  Company  will  pay  the  city 
the  flat  sum  of  $750,000  in  cash  toward  the  cost  of  such 
approach  and  the  park  development  connected  there- 
with, provided  this  company  and  its  lessors  and  succes- 
sors in  interest  are  given,  without  the  payment  of  other 
rental  thereafor,  the  right  to  use  such  approach  as 
above  outlined ;  but  the  large  capital  expenditure  must 
be  safeguarded  as  generally  provided  in  the  foregoing 
proposition  for  building  a  tunnel. 

"If  so  desired  this  company  will  perform  the  work  of 
constructing  such  approach,  and  the  appurtenant  -work 


of  rearrangement  and  demolition  of  adjacent  buildings 
and  depositing  surplus  excavated  'material  in  form  for 
a  future  park,  for  the  city  at  the  net  cost  and  without 
any  gain  or  profit  whatsoever  to  itself;  the  construc- 
tion to  be  under  the  direction  and  supervision  of  the 
designer  of  the  approach,  Mr.  John  R.  Freeman,  or 
any  other  competent  civil  engineer  selected  by  the  city 
as  chief  engineer  in  charge  of  the  work  for  the  city. 

"The  foregoing  propositions  shall  remain  open  and 
shall  constitute  the  offers  of  this  company  for  any 
reasonable  time. 

"Viewed  from  a  practical  operative  standpoint,  we 
believe  one  company  should  operate  the  street  cars  in 
the  city  streets,  hence  appears  to  us  the  propriety  of 
exclusive  rights,  but  in  order  that  outside  lines  may 
have  access  to  the  city,  this  company  during  the  period 
of  its  exclusive  rights  will,  for  a  fair  and  reasonable 
compensation,  transport  by  its  own  power  from  the 
termini  of  its  lines  at  or  outside  the  city  boundaries 
into  and  in  the  city  and  through  the  tunnel  or  on  the 
East  Side  approach  as  it  may  be,  to  a  point  at  or  near 
the  centre  of  its  railway  system,  all  passengers  and 
cars  of  any  other  street  railway  lines  connecting  with 
this  company's  lines  at  such  termini  which  may  be 
delivered  by  such  other  lines." 

Respectfully, 
(Signed)     D.   F.    SHERMAN, 

Vice-President. 


YF  01 151 


